Public Private Partnership

ICAR-Industry Meet
Agricultural Transformation
through Public-Private
Partnership: An Interface
S Ayyappan
Pitam Chandra
S K Tandon
Directorate of Information and Publications of Agriculture

Indian Council of Agricultural Research
New Delhi
PRINTED : MARCH 2007
Incharge (DIPA) : Kuldeep Sharma

Incharge (English Editorial Unit) : R.P. Sharma
Editor : Shashi A. Vermawal
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Technical Officer : Kul Bhushan Gupta
Incharge (Art Unit) : B.C. Mazumder
All rights reserved

2007, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
Published by Shri Kuldeep Sharma, Incharge (DIPA), Indian Council of Agricultural

Research, New Delhi 110 012, lasertypeset at M/s Print-O-World, 2579,
Mandir Lane, Shadipur, New Delhi 110 008, and printed at M/s Print Process, 225,
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Foreword
Indian agriculture is faced with several challenges, as also uncommon

opportunities. The challenges in terms of climate change and land
degradation and increasing global trade restrictions are also providing
opportunities to redefine the ways we have to deal with the production and
post-harvest processes. These include immense possibilities of applying tools
of biotechnology and ICT in our endeavours and complimenting strengths
in different areas for achieving higher efficiencies. A new paradigm that has
emerged in the recent years to address the problems and the potentials in a
holistic manner is the ‘Public-Private Partnership’.
The Public-Private Partnerships are viewed as the governance strategy
to minimize transaction costs and co-ordinating and enforcing relations
between partners engaged in production of goods and services. They enable
an optimal policy approach to promote social and economic development,
bringing together efficiency, flexibility and competence of the private sector
with the accountability, long-term perspective and social interest of the public
sector. Both the partners have mutual gains from such arrangements. Private
benefits from the R&D are usually company gains that stem from cost
reduction and improved quality and increased quantity of sales’ products.
They also relate to strategic goals such as market penetration, improved
competitiveness, exploration of new markets or market power. Public benefits
include a wide array of positive social, environmental and economic effects
influencing livelihoods of ultimate beneficiaries. These could be consumers
as also others involved in production, processing and marketing.
In the context of Indian agriculture, we have had fruitful interactions
between the public-funded institutions and private sector in several areas
such as seed production, farm implements and machinery, disease
diagnostics and vaccines, value-addition and post-harvest processing in
cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, milk, meat and fish, product
testing and evaluation. While the public-funded organizations have
significant research results and the ability to absorb uncertainties of pay-
offs, the private sector seems to have an edge in factoring clients into design
of technologies and diffusion processes.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research deals with a number of
disciplines and commodities in Crops, Horticulture, Animals, Fisheries,
Engineering and Resource management through a network of 48 Institutes,
five Bureaux, 11 Project Directorates, 32 National Research Centres and 91
All-India Co-ordinated Research Projects. Further, the Central Agricultural
University and 40 State Agricultural Universities are the constituents of the
National Agricultural Research System. The process of public-private
iv AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH PPP
partnership is increasing in the recent past; with several mechanisms placed

in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research such as Consultancy and
contract services, Commercialization of products and processes and so on.
A major step in this direction has been the recently formalized
comprehensive guidelines for ‘Intellectual Property Management and
Commercialization of Technologies’, enabling stronger partnerships.
The ICAR has convened this Interface Meet during 19-20 January
2006 to discuss key challenges in the Indian agriculture that need to be
addressed together to analyse sectoral expectations and identify areas that
can be complemented, including validation and testing of products and
processes, addressing global markets, commercialization of technologies and
capacity-building. I am grateful to the speakers from both private and public
sectors in the different areas of agriculture, who have contributed to the
Meet as well as to the present publication. I am sure this would mark a
milestone in furthering the cause of Indian Agriculture through the Public-
Private Partnerships.
(MANGALA RAI)
Preface
In recognition of the increasing importance of the role and potentials

of the Public-Private Partnerships in achieving higher productivity and
efficiency in different facets of Indian Agriculture, the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research organized the first ICAR-Industry Meet: Agricultural
Transformation through Public-Private Partnership at New Delhi during 19-
20 January 2006. The first Interface of its kind was designed to address
potentials in different areas and to bring out strengths of the partnerships,
and also learn from the previous experiences.
Varied aspects such as Seeds and horticultural planting materials,
Agricultural biotechnology, Biofertilizers, Agriculturally important
microorganisms, Animal vaccines, Poultry, Dairy, Fisheries, Textiles, Food
processing, Farm implements and machinery, Post-harvest processing,
Financing and Capacity-building were covered by distinguished speakers
from both private and public sectors.
There were detailed discussions on these partnerships that are playing
greater roles in On-farm testing of new technologies, Seed quality
improvement, One window for commercialization of technologies, Soil-
testing laboratories, Value-chain in different aspects, Water weedicides,
Smaller machinery and appropriate technologies, Custom-hiring, Mobile
feed dryers, Use of fertilizers and micronutrients, Extension systems and
Mobility of researchers between public and private sectors, etc. The Meet
also brought out action points for carrying the process forward, with the
existing mechanisms in some cases, and with the new ones to be put in place
in others, emphasizing objectivity and flexibility in building these
partnerships.
The present publication is an outcome of the Interface, indicating
various dimensions of the partnerships, as also immense possibilities in the
areas. We are grateful to Dr Mangala Rai, Secretary, DARE, and Director-
General, ICAR, for giving us the opportunity for organizing the Meet and
also for editing this volume. We would like to thank the speakers for their
presentations, and the participants for making the event a unique one. We
hope that this publication would not only be a document of the Interface,
but would lead to further actions for ‘Partnerships for greater Prosperity in
Agriculture’ and a ‘Win-Win’ situation for all partners.
S. Ayyappan
Pitam Chandra
S.K. Tandon
contents
Foreword iii
Preface v
1. Partnership for Prosperity 1
2. PPP: Institutional and Industrial Views 4
3. Technology Commercialization and Financing 7
4. Private-Public Partnership: Problems and Potentials 19
5. Crop Varieties and Planting Materials 21
6. Capabilities in Agricultural Biotechnology 23
7. India’s Herbal Heritage 31
8. Transformation in Floriculture through Public-Private Partnership 35
9. Aerobic Composting by Excel Process 41
10. Biopesticides and Biological Control for Crop Protection 46
11. Biocontrol Agents: Problems and Perspectives 52
12. Agro-biochemicals in Agriculture 55
13. Vaccines in Livestock Development 63
14. Indian Poultry Industry Perspective 69
15. Biologicals in Animal Husbandry 74
16. Transformation through Public-Private Partnership—An Interface
on the Dairy Sector 92
17. Public-Private Partnership in Fisheries and Aquaculture 99
18. Small Bugs, Big Business 106
19. Public-Private Partnership in Mechanizing Indian Agriculture
for Second Green Revolution 120
20. Processing and Value-addition 124
21. Post-harvest Technologies in Agriculture 126
22. Public-Private Partnership — Context HRD 134
Annexure 138
Subject Index 144
1
Partnership for Prosperity
B.R. Barwale
All partnership efforts for agricultural transformation should

ultimately lead to economic prosperity of the farmer. This means higher
productivity of the crops with newer technologies, be it superior hybrids;
exploiting phenomenon of hybrid vigour or transgenic crops, where an
economic trait is incorporated from an unrelated species. Innovation is one
thing and reaching of the technology to the farmer is another. Both are very
important. All along in the seed industry concerns have been on Food
Security and Nutrition Security for the nation. To achieve these goals,
partnerships at various levels with different objectives have to be developed
amongst various stakeholders, which shall bring prosperity to the nation
through the prosperity of the main stakeholder, the farmer.
For the success of the partnership with Public Institutions and Private
Organizations, identifying the strengths of the partner and the areas of
complementarities are very important.
HYBRID RICE
In 1986, we were far behind in the hybrid rice development, but there
was no doubt that Hybrid Rice was the need of the hour for our country,
as it would have brought about an additional tonne of grains per hectare;
as rice has a share of over 40% in our food output. The efforts initiated by
the ICAR were praiseworthy. However, MAHYCO Research Foundation
(MRF), now Barwale Foundation (a non-profit organization), wanted to
play a catalytic role. A proposal was given to the ICAR to consider a
contribution of one crore of rupees each year for three years for deploying
money for hybrid rice development work in the country. No conditions
were put, and ICAR was at liberty to use it. No expiry date was set; funds
would not lapse by March end as was with funds from other agencies.
The bottom line was the acceptance and spread of hybrid rice cultivation
by farmers. The collaboration was implemented by two committees.
• Steering Committee, where the Director-General, ICAR, chaired
and representative Directors from MRF were involved with other
members.
Chairman, M/s MAHYCO Research Foundation, H.No. 8-2-703, A.G. Heights, Road No.
12, Hyderabad 500 034 (Andhra Pradesh)
2 AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH PPP
• The Technical Committee comprising representatives of all

participant Universities, coordinated by Director, Directorate of
Rice Research, Hyderabad. MRF was also well represented.
A brief report was prepared at the end of three years, and the impacts
of the Foundation’s contribution on the project were summarized thus by
the Directorate of Rice Research.
Impact of the ICAR/MRF Project

Impact of the activities undertaken in the ICAR/MRF project in addressing the critical
lacunae/gaps and on expeditious development and use of Hybrid Rice Technology
in India had been significant. The project was specifically effective in the following
aspects.
• Enhanced mobility through provisions of “Tata Sumo” vehicles to all the centres,
enabling them to conduct compact block frontline demonstrations of the released
hybrids effectively and efficiently.
• Major thrust given for purification of parental lines resulted in adequate availability
of pure seeds of all parental lines of released and pre-released hybrids.
• Provision of critical and much needed field facilities, though minor, such as
pollination chambers, net houses, pump sets, power tillers etc. were helpful in
efficient implementation of the project activities.
• An innovative breeding approach, such as development of diverse gene pools
for extracting maintainers and restorers, initiated and implemented under this
project, payed rich dividends in terms of availability of genetically diverse parental
lines for developing new hybrids.
• Another significant achievement of this project was development of diversified
CMS lines with sterility inducing cytoplasm other than the most widely used “WA”
system.
• Hybrids with tolerance to salinity were developed, which could be deployed
effectively in the problem soils to enhance production and productivity.
• Several useful publications were brought out in local languages on hybrid rice
cultivation and seed production. These were immensely useful in transfer of
technology activities.
• Establishment of hybrid rice information network helped in faster and efficient
communication among scientists and network centres.
• Awards for scientists were instituted to recognize the work on different aspects
on hybrid rice.
• A greenhouse, as per the guidelines of DBT for transgenic work, was also
provided at the DRR.
This unique and innovative partnership between a private research

foundation (MRF) and a public sector research giant (ICAR) has set an
example for others to emulate.
The present Director-General, ICAR, recognized that this was the first
research contract with the ICAR by a Private NGO. And he mentioned that
more private organizations are in the pipeline, particularly after the recent
reforms in the ICAR policy to encourage such partnerships (G.O.I.1995,
1997).
HYBRID TUR (PIGEONPEA)

There was a partnership between Mahyco, the Seed Company, and the
ICRISAT. MAHYCO pioneered collaborative efforts for developing a CMS
PARTNERSHIP FOR PROSPERITY 3
system in breeding a pigeonpea hybrid. The funding to the extent of approx.

rupees 60 lakh was made by MAHYCO, and a concept of consortium of
about half a dozen interested organizations was created. A small fee was
levied to join the consortium. The net result of these partnerships efforts
will be 50% increase in productivity, from the current level of 600-700 kg/
ha. The demand for pigeonpea in India has always exceeded the production,
and the deficit of half a million metric tonnes is met through imports from
Myanmar and Southern and Eastern Africa. ICPH 8 was the first pigeonpea
hybrid in the world, released for cultivation in India, with 25-30% yield
advantage in farmers’ fields. However, this technology could not become
popular due to difficulties associated with genetic nature of male sterility
which restricts large-scale seed production of female parent and hybrids.
Hybrid seed production feasibility studies conducted during 2003-04 by
Mahyco have showed that hybrid pigeonpea seed could be produced at a
reasonable cost. The first commercial hybrid based on the CMS system will
be launched shortly in all the three maturity groups of pigeonpea (short,
medium and long duration).
Impact of hybrid technology for increasing production and
productivity of pigeonpea: The performance of various hybrids under
multilocation testing system showed significantly higher grain yield as
compared to popular varieties. The heterosis over best varieties ranged to
50% in multilocation testing. Under such a scenario, pigeonpea would
become a more remunerative profitable crop for the farmers. The
productivity will increase to approximately 1 tonne per hectare by
considering the average yield increase of 50% over existing varieties. As
pigeonpea-crop becomes more profitable, area under this may go up as
much as double. That would mean addition of 7.32 million tonnes
production; four times that of the existing production. It is very important
to see that these pigeonpea hybrids are rapidly commercialized to bring
these benefits to Indian farmers.
Private partnership takes results to farmers expeditiously: One big
advantage of Public-Private Partnership of the Technology is that
achievement can be taken to the farmer very rapidly. In case of development
of new seeds, the private partner can arrange seed production to reach the
farmer, as he is very keen to earn profit on his investment. If it is basic
research then the private firm can work with the results for application
research.
Public-Private Partnership is the best utilization today of the large
facilities created in the public-sector institutions.
2
PPP: Institutional and Industrial Views
R.D. Kapoor
A public-private partnership is a contractual agreement between a

public agency (federal, state or local) and a private sector entity. Through
this agreement, skills and assets of each sector (public and private) are
shared in delivering a service or a facility for the use of the general public.
In addition to the sharing of the resources, each party shares risks and
rewards potential in the delivery of the service and/or the facility.
As a science-based activity, agricultural research is best performed by
multidisciplinary and inter-institutional teams of scientists from both public
and private sectors. Agricultural growth is a prerequisite for economic
development, especially in the countries with agri-based economy. Even
when all irrigation potential is developed, one half of the arable land of the
country remains rain-dependent. Therefore, the high growth in agricultural
sector would progressively depend more on the development of rainfed
agriculture. Unless production in rainfed regions is increased, inequalities
between irrigated and rainfed areas in the country will remain.
To accelerate pace of rainfed agriculture and to harness its potential
benefits, there is a need to introduce appropriate technologies and create
suitable institutions and infrastructure to promote a shift to high-value-
added crops. There are emerging opportunities for traditional and high-
value crops that offer potential to raise rural incomes. Such a shift will
enable rainfed agriculture to increase production, augment farm-income,
generate employment, alleviate poverty and conserve precious soil and water
resources.
Indeed, the promotion of high-value commodities may act as the
catalyst to bring a “second-generation” Green Revolution in rainfed areas.
CURRENT STATUS
Though interaction of private sector and public sector is not new, yet
the level is very low. Certain areas of interactions at present are as follows.
Agriculture: Field trials, Pesticide testing, Germplasm evaluation,
Collaborative technology development – hybrid rice; and Biotech: Biosafety
Managing Director, M/s Monsanto Holdings Pvt. Ltd, 6-B, Ground Floor, Jor Bagh Lane,
New Delhi 110 003
PPP: INSTITUTIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL VIEWS 5
studies, Germplasm/Agronomic evaluation, Animal feeding studies,

Ecological studies.
In spite of being registered under the Companies Act, the
multinational companies are not considered at a par with the Indian
companies; resulting in dissatisfaction among the private sector. Absence
of established laws blurs the timelines that further disturb research
procedures. Presently mid-term data-sharing is also very difficult.
With partnership between public and private sectors, the strengths of
both the sectors are leveraged. On the one hand, public sector has highly
skilled and efficient manpower in agriculture and on the other hand, private
has excellent managerial resources. Private extension would improve
commercialization of technology and make it available at the global level.
The decentralized decision-making in private sector helps in reducing time
for commercialization. Proper budget management and global regulatory
expertise are certain other benefits of the system. While availability of
diverse germplasm of different crops and diverse breeding crops can be
boasted by the public sector. Another added advantage of private sector is
years of experience.
With the rapid developments in agricultural technologies and evolving
national seed policies, investments in hybrid seed research and development
are bound to increase. This increase would mean different areas where
public participation would be needed; some of them are as follows. Plant
ecology:Field trials, Molecular characterization, Protein expression, Product
safety, Residue studies, Composition and Seed production.
The different policies that are evolving, and will continuously affect
the agricultural partnership are as follows. New Seed Bill, 2004/Insecticide
Act, 1968; Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Protection of Plant
Varieties and Farmers’ Right Act, 2001; The Plant Quarantine Order, 2003;
Prevention of Food Adulteration Bill, 2004; Food Safety and Standard Bill,
2005; Indian Patent Act, 2005; National Biotechnology Development
Strategy; Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
The alliance would reduce timeline for commercialization, and certain
requisitions for such an alliance would be as follows.
• The entire value-chain and not just specific bottlenecks have to
be addressed
• Empowerment of Directorate of the institute: CSIR
• Clarity on Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)
• Set-up joint help-lines for new technologies for the benefits of
farmers
• Level playing field for both the parties
• Support social programmes
• Joint IPR in case of bilateral projects
There is a need to introduce a course on agricultural regulations at
graduation level so that student are familiarized with the complexities of
managing agricultural business.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP
There is a need for transparency and trust for mid-term review and
for bilateral agreement for developing new technologies. Clear laws for
transfer of technology and sabbatical provisions for scientists to work with
industry need to be established. The industry needs to be accredited for
Master and PhD programmes.
To draw a conclusion from the above, it would be appropriate to say
that any partnership requires patience and trust to succeed. We are looking
at the long-term benefits and it is very necessary to iron all creases at the
first step itself. Regular inputs from both the parties and meetings would
be an effective way to check any issue that would emerge at any stage.
3
Technology Commercialization
and Financing
N. Srinivasan
MACRO ECONOMIC SCENARIO
The economy of India is the fourth largest in the world as measured by

the purchasing power parity (PP) with a GDP of US$ 3.36 pillion. India
was the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP
growth rate of 8.1% at the end of the Ist quarter of 2005-06. For more than
two decades since 1981, the GDP of India has grown at an average of 5.8%
per annum as compare to 3.5% during the previous three decades. The
volatility of GDP growth rate has come down significantly with the rapid
and sustained progress in the industry and the service sectors. However, per
caput income continues to be low at Rs 11,762; mainly due to the consistent
growth in population and declining share of agriculture in the GDP.
The average population growth, which was 1.96% in 1961, was
hovering around 2.2% during the next three decades, and than declined to
1.9% in 2001. As the result, the total population of the country more than
doubled from 439 million in 1961 to 1,029 million in 2001. Consistent
growth of population at 2% for more than four decades has placed
enormous pressure on land, water, forests, etc. resulting in large-scale human
induced environmental degradation. The poverty-induced migration of
people from rural to urban areas has degraded quality of life; as
development of civil infrastructure in urban areas has not kept pace with
the population growth.
In India, the share of agriculture in total GDP has steadily declined
over years. In 2004-05, it was a little about 40% while it contributed almost
40% a few decades back. The decline in the contribution of agriculture to
overall economy is natural; consistent in the economic development process
in most nations. And this per say may not have been a cause of concern,
had a corresponding demographic shift taken place. In India, however,
agriculture continues to be the largest employment provider; as 58%
population is dependent on the agriculture for their livelihood.
Chief General Manager, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, Maharashtra
Region Office 54, Wellesley Road, Shivaji Nagar, P.B. No. 5, Pune 411 005 (Maharashtra)
The deceleration in agricultural growth in India is certainly a cause of

serious concern as 4% growth rate in agriculture is considered essential to
achieve the target of 8% growth rate for the economy; as a whole as per the
X five year plan. The sluggishness in agriculture sector is often traced to lack
of fresh technological breakthroughs like green revolution in late sixties and
seventies, and declining trend in public capital formation in agriculture. It
is now widely acknowledged that though green revolution helped to achieve
food self-sufficiency and also spurred the growth in economy, it remained
confined mainly to cereals, and only in certain parts of the country.
PRESENT STATUS OF AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES

Progress of agriculture has been impressive in production terms over
years, and the country now ranks in top positions in production for most
of the agricultural items in the world. The foodgrains production increased
from 74.23 million tonnes in 1966-67 to 209.80 million tonnes in 1999-
2000. The estimated figure was at 212.05 million tonnes for 2004-05.
Livestock sector accounted for 5.4% of the total GDP and 27.7% of
the GDP of agriculture in 2001-02 (current prices). Similarly, fishery sector
accounted for 1.1% of the total GDP and 5.4% of agriculture GDP.
Despite rapid strides, agriculture and allied sectors face numerous
challenges such as declining profitability; decline in growth rate of
foodgrains production and yields; wide disparity in productivity over
regions and crops; mismatch between food crops and cash crops; lack of
market access; low price realization at farmers’ level, compared to costs;
inefficiency in use of resources; degradation of natural resources;
continuation of dependence on import of pulses and edible oils; lack of
reforms; diversification, and stagnant capital formation with declining
public investments in agriculture.
In the present scenario, the challenge for the country is to make
agriculture and allied sectors more profitable, and to ensure that rural
population has a larger income to share. The emphasis should be on
productivity, quality, diversification, sustainability, promotion of innovations
and exports. The role of technology in meeting challenge is critical. The
following sections of the paper are an attempt to outline the need for new
technologies with potential to provide holistic solutions, and the issues that
relate to their dissemination and commercialization.
EMERGING PARADIGM OF TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION

It would be appropriate to set bounds of the term ‘technology’ for
the purpose of this paper as the term has different connotations in different
contexts. The word ‘technology’ has its origins in the Greek word
technologia, (techno=”craft”+logia=”saying”). It is an encompassing term
dealing with use and knowledge of humanity’s tools and crafts. The
following usages of the word may be considered.
Technology as tool: In its most common usage, technology is the
tools and machines that help to solve problems. In this usage, technology is
TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION AND FINANCING 9
a far-reaching term that can include both simple tools, such as a sickle or a
plough, and complex tools such as seed-cum-ferti drill or harvester combine.
Technology as technique: In this usage, technology is the current
state of our knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired
products, to solve a problem, to fulfill a need, or to satisfy a want.
Technology in this sense includes technical methods, skills, processes,
techniques, tools and raw materials (tissue culture, polyhouse, micro-
irrigation method, cultural practices, etc).
The above usages of the word technology are focussed on what
comprises technology; may be in the form of a concept, knowledge, an
instrument, methods of using instruments and so on. These paradigms do
not take into account side effects of the use of the technology on natural
resources, environment and social aspects such as health, safety, sanitation,
life-style, traditional rights of the people, ethics, values, community
structures and governance systems. The long-term consequences of ignoring
these concerns have been well recognized across the globe, and presently
the focus is pegged on holistic technologies that not only deliver intended
effects but also take care of the fallout. Thus a third paradigm of technology
which can be termed as ‘culture forming technology’ is gathering
momentum. This seeks to ensure a broadened extension of appropriate
technologies so that compatibility between technology, environment and
society is ensured. Only such technologies would have the potency to
address the issues of equity along with growth and productivity, which are
relevant in the context of the developing nations.
The word Commercialization is obviously linked to commerce which
means trading of goods, services, information and money between two or
more parties. Commercialization therefore refers to the process of
transforming a productive or value-adding activity into a commercial activity.
In other words, when a productive activity is commercialized, the benefits
thereof (the goods, services etc.) are produced by the firm/entrepreneur
primarily for the purpose of exchanging with others for certain pecuniary
consideration or services in return. Usually the success of commercialization
depends on the demand for the product, the cost at which it is offered, the
intrinsic benefits of the product and the associated services that provide
convenience to customer in purchase, installation, usage, maintenance and
disposal once the life of the product is over. Mass production, increasing
factor efficiency, efficient distribution, product knowledge dissemination,
reinforcement of consumer confidence, and efficient service constitute the
strategic pillars of successful commercialization.
Combining working definitions of technology and commercialization,
Technology Commercialization in the context of agriculture and rural
development in India would encompass whole range of issues and activities,
from stage of need identification, development of appropriate technology,
demonstration, creating demand and rolling out package for wider adoption
on commercial terms. The technologies may be either low cost or high cost,
simple or complex, but they should be suitable for adoption on a wider scale.
NEED AND CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW RURAL TECHNOLOGIES
Need
Technology, infrastructure, markets and finance are four factors which
play a decisive role in growth and sustainability of any production activity.
In case of foodgrains, technologies comprising high-yielding seeds, use
of chemical inputs and irrigation have boosted production. Healthy plant
material through modern nurseries and modern cultural practices have helped
production in horticulture and plantation areas. In dairy sector, artificial
insemination, nutrition, veterinary care and integration of milk producers
with processing units in a cooperative mode have made remarkable impact
in milk production, which has been termed as white revolution. Availability
of credit from banking system has boosted adoption of new technologies by
the small producers and also their commercialization.
These technological advances have focussed basically on two aspects
— genetic improvement and high dose input regime—and have been
instrumental in taking production as well as productivity of crops, livestock
and fisheries to much higher levels. However, the present yields in our
country for most crops are way below the world average level. As our
population is likely to grow at a rate between 1.5 and 2.0%, increased food
production can be achieved only through productivity improvement.
Further, with removal of trade barriers for agricultural commodities and
emerging regime of intellectual property rights, the competitive efficiency
of Indian agriculture in the global scenario can be best addressed only
through improvement in productivity, quality and value-addition. While we
have the challenge of productivity improvement on one side, the impact of
the presently commercialized technologies seems to be tapering off or even
declining. This has given rise to the need for a fresh thinking on what kind
of technologies are required for agriculture and rural sector, and how to
commercialize them quickly.
Characteristics
The challenges of the time largely decide choice of technologies. In
pre-green revolution period, the overriding challenge was food security of
the nation and the choice was on technologies that held promise of
generating greater outputs as quickly as possible. Now the challenge is one
of conservation of natural resources, environmental protection, preservation
of diversity alongside productivity improvement and value-addition. The
present challenge is a more complex and comprehensive one as it has to
address several variables simultaneously. Another dimension is that of the
compressed time-frame for absorption and commercialization of new
technologies. Earlier, a longer time-frame could be afforded to ensure wider
dissemination of technology as the economy was relatively immune from
external markets. With economic reforms and structural adjustment
mechanisms firmly in place, a free market economy prevails now and the
swiftness of the market forces is such that there is hardly any scope for
longer lags in technology induction and commercialization; as the

production sectors have to quickly align themselves with the demands of
the marketplace, lest their competitive advantage will be eroded. Higher lag
means loss of opportunity to participate in the global trade process and
harness the benefits of the same for the masses.
While productivity enhancement remains the core of even the future
technologies, the following points also would require due consideration and
weightage in the process of their development, dissemination and
commercialization.
1. The technologies should be of end-to-end nature addressing the
opportunities along the total value chain rather than isolated
segments of it.
2. The choice of technology needs to be demand-driven and based
on the felt needs of the local people, and preferably the local
people should be involved in the process of technology
development right from the idea formation stage.
3. The application aspects of the technology should be simple and
user friendly, which minimizes gestation period.
4. Linkage with the industry is essential at all stages viz, concept
development, research design, pilot testing, demonstration and
commercial application to harmonize commercial considerations
with social considerations.
5. The cost of technology should be affordable by small and marginal
farmers, artisans, women and other weaker sections so that
technology is scalable and results in more equitable percolation
of benefits among the rural poor.
6. Post-harvest handling, preservation, processing, storage, transport,
distribution and marketing are required in an energy-efficient and
eco-friendly manner.
7. Conservation of natural resources is needed like soil, water, flora,
fauna, and recycling of degradable and non-degradable agricultural
wastes.
Having set broad boundaries for emerging technologies as mentioned
above, this paper makes an attempt to examine some of the technologies
having potential for commercialization with public-private partnership and
involvement of financial linkages from banking sector.
SOME EXAMPLES OF ‘CULTURE FORMING TECHNOLOGIES’
Conservation Agriculture
It is proposed as an alternative model for bringing improvement in
stagnating agricultural scenario particularly in Green Revolution states
(Punjab and Haryana). The concept involves minimum disturbance of soil
and perfect land levelling to conserve both soil and water, besides saving
labour and fuel. The package consists of levelling of land with high-tech
laser-based levelling machines, growing crops on raised-land beds

interspersed with furrows to provide irrigation in root zone, dispensing with
pre-sowing tillage and usage of zero-tillage planting equipment. The crop
yields rise perceptibly due to enhanced input-use efficiency. These
techniques are supported by crop-residue management and crop
diversification to include leguminous crops in cropping system and only
need-based application of chemical fertilizers. The reduced cost and higher
output fetch higher returns to farmers. The crop yields have been reported
higher by about 2.5 quintals a hectare. As per the estimates available already
2 million ha out 13.5 million ha under wheat-rice crop rotation came under
conservation agriculture by 2004-05.
Watershed Development
Participatory Watershed Development Programme implemented by the
NABARD under the Indo-German Watershed Development Programme
since 1991-92 is an example of a cocktail of several appropriate soil, water
management measures seamlessly integrated with social mobilization
measures. The technology comprises water-and-soil conservation techniques
like contour trenching, gully plugging, check dams, farm bunding,
afforestation, etc., on ridge to valley principle with active involvement of
local village communities. These measures are supplemented with training
of farmers on agronomic practices, livestock rearing, and also non-farm
activities. The women in the area are organized into self-help groups who
are encouraged to participate in activities planned around community
health, sanitation, adult education, besides their economic empowerment
through savings and credit. The private participation is ensured by involving
NGOs for carrying out project measures in partnership with the Village
Watershed Committee comprising members of Gram Sabha. The stake of
the villagers in the project is ensured through shramdan (voluntary
contribution of labour) to sustain their interest. The technology has been
found suitable for resource-poor rainfed areas with undulating topography,
which experience water stress for considerable period every year resulting
in poverty induced migration. These areas are traditional stranglehold of
pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals and millet which are grown by small and
marginal farmers. The project has shown very impressive results in terms
of crop diversification, fodder cultivation, rearing of dairy cattle etc. and
higher incomes to villagers. The social impact is perceptible in decreasing
drop-out rate in schools due to decline in the numbers of poverty induced
migrant families. Dependence on government tankers for drinking water
has almost come to a naught in completed watersheds. Though
commercialization in terms of expansion of watershed treated area has taken
place to a considerable extent (1.1 lakh ha), there exist gaps in water
utilization patterns, productivity of crops and connectivity with markets,
which are challenges yet to be tackled. While watershed development is
carried out on a wide scale, there is a need to adopt participatory technology
to ensure lasting benefits in watershed to the entire community.
Clean Milk Production

Production of milk in the country for a long time has been focussed
on high solids percentage as the price of the milk is decided based on the
proportion of fats and other solids in the liquid milk. Now having achieved
number one position in milk production, India has potential to tap external
milk markets. The major constraint however is the quality and high bacterial
content in our milk and milk products. In most cases hand milking and
storing milk in open containers at room temperature for a long time before
it is actually procured by the cooperative society or the private agency is
the cause of the contamination and deterioration in quality. This can be
reduced to minimum by using milking machines and direct collection of
milk into cans, avoiding human contact. This technology is simple, scalable
and can be easily commercialized with reasonable investments. However to
provide inbuilt incentive to the milk producer and for motivating to use
milking machines, the price premium needs to be pegged to quality
parameters in the milk.
Village Knowledge Centres/ Internet Kiosks

The villagers unlike urban populations are often not able to access
technologies, markets and governance services due to lack of adequate
knowledge about facilities, prices and conditionalities to be complied with.
The Government extension system, which traditionally delivers new
technologies to rural people, has serious capacity limitations on physical
outreach and is plagued with systemic inefficiencies. The urban-rural divide
has widened further due to digital revolution that is sweeping across our
towns and cities.
This gap has given rise to a new opportunity; i.e. IT-driven
information and service providing centres that have come to be known in
generic terms as village knowledge centres or rural information kiosks.
These have been established mostly through public-private partnerships.
Some of the examples are: e-choupals of ITC, rural information kiosks of n-
Louge (Tamil Nadu), Tata Kisan Kendras of Tata Chemicals, Drishtee in
Madhya Pradesh, e-seva kendras in Andhra Pradesh, which have illustrated
the potential for knowledge empowerment of rural communities and
rendered them certain services on a commercial basis. Villagers have
recognized the economic benefits that can be derived from information,
communication and technology (ICT) based facilities in terms of savings
on travelling expenditure for small things, accessing medical facilities,
government services, and transaction costs involved in buying inputs and
selling produce. As the result they are willing to pay a part of their cost
savings to kiosk operators, who are entrepreneurs themselves from local
area. The government had embarked upon a plan of establishing village
knowledge centres in 100,000 villages by the end of the Xth plan; as these
kiosks are relatively low-cost enterprises; providing equal access to all and
employment opportunities to rural-youth. The scope for flow of credit
support for establishing kiosks is reflected in partnerships entered by large
banks like the ICICI and SBI in some areas, who ultimately are eyeing
delivery of full range of financial services through such kiosks in long-run.
CREDIT ENABLED INITIATIVES FOR TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION
The catalytic role of credit in providing necessary private capital for
adoption of any technology needs no elaboration particularly when most
of our farmers are resource-poor.
Irrigation and Micro-irrigation (MI)

So far, only 68% of the county’s irrigation potential has been
harnessed, out of the ultimate irrigation potential assessed at 139.9 million
ha. Credit support for minor irrigation activities, tube wells, dug wells,
pump sets, micro-irrigation etc. has been one of the major areas of finance.
Cumulatively credit extended was Rs 10,716 crore for MI during 1999-
2000 to 2003-04. This has resulted in more area under assured irrigation,
leading to multiple cropping. MI has been the environmental friendly
technology. Assistance under RIDF to state governments over the years has
resulted in additional irrigation potential of 92.47 lakh ha. Micro-irrigation
(sprinkler and drip) has helped conserving water and increasing area under
fruits, vegetables, floriculture etc. Maharashtra with nearly 60% area of the
country under drip is a fine example in this regard.
Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Finances are given under various centrally sponsored subsidy schemes—
for Cold storages and onion godowns; Rural godowns; Rainwater harvesting
scheme for SC/ST farmers; Development/strengthening of agricultural
marketing infrastructure, grading and standardization; Commercial
production units of organic inputs, and Central plan schemes—Dairy/Poultry
Venture Capital Fund that facilitated in capital formation under agriculture,
providing increased credit avenues to banks, strengthening forward and
backward linkages and also commercialization of activities.
A capacity of 39.77 lakh MT of cold storages (807 cold storages
schemes have been sanctioned involving bank loan of Rs 498.89 lakh and
subsidy of Rs 207.13 lakh), 0.31 lakh MT onion storage, and 98.74 lakh
MT Rural godown capacity (4,440 rural godowns in 19 states) have been
created, which would help prevent post-harvest losses and distress sale by
farmers.
Agro Export Zones

Sixty AEZs in the country envisage integration of activities of all
agencies with an end-to-end approach. AEZs envisage increasing export of
identified commodities with economics of scale and providing remunerative
returns to farming community in a sustained manner through convergence
of interventions of various agencies. Creation of AEZs has facilitated in the
exposure of new technologies to farmers and their adoption by them. And
also creation of infrastructure (Pack houses, Grading units, Cold storages,
etc.) and commercialization of crop cultivation in identified agroclimatic
zones. A separate scale of finance for export purpose for grapes has helped
in quality production to meet export norms.
Agriclinics and Agribusiness Centres (ACABC)

The ACABC scheme for agri-graduates has resulted in setting-up of
nearly 782 units. The scheme has facilitated in extension support through
agri-graduates on commercial basis and helped farmers in getting services
and technology transfer, besides employment generation for graduates.
Contract Farming
Commercialization by integration of all activities involved in
production, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities has been
made possible with the advent of contract farming. Traditionally contract
farming was confined to production of sugarcane, tea, coffee, cotton, milk,
etc. Contract farming has been gaining ground as a solution for assured
supplies of uniform quality for processors and traders. Corporatization of
contract farming has potential to boost farm incomes and to increase global
trade of Indian agri-produce. The farmers especially small farmers also
benefit in the process from diversification, technological upgradation and
assured market. The pace of contract farming is on the rise after the
amendment to APMC Act by the state governments.
Contract farming corporates in our country include: Himalaya Health
Care, Mysore SNC Oil Company, Sami Labs, Ion Exchange (Enviro Farms),
United Breweries, Satnam Overseas (Basamati rice), Amrtita Feeds,
PepsiCo, Punjab Agro Foods, Apache Cotton Company, Mahindra and
Mahindra, Cadbury, Godrej, ACE Agrotech, L&T, Hafed, BEC Co,
Reliance Group, JK Paper, Shakti Sugar, Fritto Lay India, etc. An area of
about 2.7 lakh ha is under contract farming in the production of basamati
rice, maize, cotton, medicinal plants, gherkins, vegetables and flowers,
cocoa, oil-palm, aloevera, sugar, eucalyptus, exotic vegetables, chips-quality
potatoes, soybean, sugarcane, orange, caprica chilli, pulses and spices,
tomato, guar-gum, barley, turmeric, sunflower, safed musli, ragi seeds, etc.
Contract broiler sector is now spreading at a rapid pace. Nearly 35–40
% of broilers turn over (47 million per month) is now under contract farming.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra are the major
states. The contract farming in broilers is facilitating in integration and
insulating farmers from wide price fluctuations. The contract is also helping
in encouraging scientific farming and value-addition through processing.
Contract farming has the potential for dissemination of new
technologies over a wide area, with benefits for producers, processors,
marketers and technology providers. The future of a market-led agriculture
seems closely aligned to orderly development of contract-farming
arrangements.
ISSUES IN TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION AND FINANCING

1. Prevalence of informal credit, accounting for more than 35% of
population being covered by informal finance, limits financing of

emerging technologies, especially those which are investment-
intensive.
2. Continuing reluctance of finance to lead technology – The lack
of familiarity and heightened risk perception about new
technologies hinder adequate credit flows.
3. Failure of high-profile ventures that failed to honour commitments
to procure from farmers; market failure of new crops and new
technologies (safed musali, vanilla, BT cotton in some areas).
4. Adverse fall out of some technologies on environment and
ecology.
5. Threat perceptions arising from GMOs entering food-chain.
Suggestions
Technology
1. Productivity and income generation should be hand-in-hand. The
technology which gives higher surplus at the level of farmer/
producer needs propagation. There has been undue emphasis on
production and productivity rather on profitability and increased
incomes at farm level. Technology should pave way for increased
returns at the level of producers.
2. Use of IT and Internet Kiosks for all services at the door-step of
farmers for facile access to information.
3. The processing units should be facilitated in obtaining HACCP
certification and other quality standards.
4. Promoting more certification agencies for organic farming,
exporting of fruits etc.
5. The ICAR and Agricultural universities to join hand with
corporate sector for taking up need-based R& D to facilitate
transfer of technology to field.
6. Development of drylands and rainfed farming regions needs top
priority. Suitable selection of crops, use of satellite-based
forecasting system, and sustainable approach, insurance coverage
need focussed attention. Implementation of watershed projects is
the ideal sustainable option.
Commercialization
• Involvement of grower organizations for various commodities like
Grape/ Pomegranate/Mango, etc. for identifying commercial
activities that can be replicated.
• Contract farming can be one of the approaches for
commercialization to facilitate adoption of modern technology/
improved package of practices for improving productivity at
optimal cost of production so that farmer/producer and processor/
exporter/ consumer are benefited.
• The productivity variations are wide in the country from region

to region and even within agroclimatic region. A pilot project can
be encouraged for replicating technology adopted by progressive
farmers, who could achieve best productivity in a region among
other farmers within the agroclimate.
Finance
1. Use of existing non-formal agencies for credit delivery is an option
to be explored by banks to widen outreach with cost efficiencies.
The greater local knowledge and low overhead costs make SHGs,
joint liability groups, arathiyas, village mahajan, input suppliers,
wholesale procurers and the like very suitable franchisees of bank
credit. The direct selling agent concept used in urban areas can
be implemented with suitable changes in rural areas through these
non-formal agencies.
2. The insurance mechanisms need to be strengthened to facilitate
claim settlement at individual farm levels so that risk management
becomes meaningful. Technology risks should also be covered
effectively.
3. The contract-farming arrangements that help in recovery of bank
loans through buyers of produce have been welcomed by banks.
These arrangements on account of assured market and hassle-free
recovery of bank loans have gained support at all quarters. Further
the contract-farming mechanism would require a different credit
product that needs to be administered and serviced differently. The
tripartite agreements need a stringent enforcement mechanism;
for which suitable legislation may be necessary.
4. The cost of credit has to be kept at realistically low levels so that
farming operations become profitable. This would be possible
only if transactions and risk costs are kept at the minimum by
banks.
5. The changing nature of credit demand has to be fully understood
by banks to design appropriate customer-friendly products.
Enterprise farming requires larger loans, more as working capital
than as crop production loans. Marketing loans are likely to be
demanded more on account of higher marketable surpluses and
more efficient transport arrangements.
6. Processing and packaging units are increasingly being set-up and
hence term loan requirements are on the rise. Understanding the
nature of agro-processing is a critical requirement for banks
wanting to enter this sector.
7. The shifts in demand pattern in agricultural credit offer
opportunities to banks for customizing products for large players,
and standardizing credit facilities to reduce cost in case of small
loans.
8. Banks to build capacity of their rural development officers for

exploring credit to new areas like AEZs, ACABC, Organic
farming, micro-irrigation, protected cultivation of flowers in poly-
houses, financing in completed RIDF projects, etc.
9. Banks need to play a proactive role in the preparation of credit
plans involving NGOs and financing for identified activities in
completed watersheds for sustainable development.
10. Banks need to take advantages of centrally sponsored schemes,
schemes under NHB, NHM, and can identify new borrowers
through various Grower Associations (Grape, pomegranate,
mango, orange), Cooperative Milk unions, private dairy units,
FFDA etc. for expanding credit base.
The short-term and long-term impacts of technology need to be
analysed before commercialization. The tradeoffs between alternatives also
need to be studied and decisions taken in the interest of greatest good of
the largest number.
Often rural people find that their skill sets have become obsolete with
the advent of new technology and that their livelihoods are threatened. In
such cases the economic costs of impoverishment are very high.
Commercialization of such technologies should necessarily be carried out
with great caution.
Health risks arising from transgenic plant varieties and other GMOs
are real. The widespread incidence of mad-cow disease and bird flu are
warning bells. Technology should not end-up making enemies of humanity
stronger. Commercialization would market produces that are profitable.
Finance should take a long-term view and support those ventures that are
sustainable and viable over a long-term.
Let us use technology to make our livelihoods and habitats better, not
only for us, but for the future too.
4
Private-Public Partnership:
Problems and Potentials
Mruthyunjaya
Public-private sector partnership (PPP) is a new institutional

innovation to bring in synergy, mobilize resources, generate, validate and
transfer technologies. Signs of progress in forging alliances among partners
are seen in the last few years in some pockets, but such examples making
system-wide impact are not many. The success stories have raised
expectations, but a high-level policy statement unequivocally promoting
PPP is still wanting. Further, there are still misperceptions between public
and private sectors with regard to intentions, goals and credibility of
achievements. And another problem is lack of accurate mapping of
proprietary assets and responsibilities between these sectors for effective
functioning. There should be appreciation and follow-up of best practices
followed by public and private sectors with regard to business approach and
skills; decision-making and operational procedures; connectivity with largest
constituency – farmers, traders and consumers; technology generation,
validation and delivery; interface with civil society organizations; efficiency
promoting work-culture; response style and time and incentive. All these,
if mutually imbibed and internalized, will add to run-away success of PPP.
Potentials: One of the great potentials of PPP lies in human resource
development and training. Under HRD / training, success has been
achieved through PPP in seed technology, DNA fingerprinting, quarantine
/ plant protection, artificial insemination, feed compounding and
supplementation, eco-friendly technology for hatchery management,
polyculture technology for carps, etc. More and more areas of mutual
interest are to be identified and pursued. Another areas of great potential
include apex trial of varieties, testing of equipment etc. Such activities will
build in much needed confidence, credibility and may lead to business
promotion of both partners.
In view of the changing market context, specialized research in agreed
areas particularly covering entire value-chain, sustainable rural livelihood
options etc. will be immensely helpful. Similarly, development of new
National Director, National Agricultural Innovation Project, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan II, New Delhi 110 012
molecules of chemicals, improvement of quality of produce like carpet-wool,

reduction of aflatoxin in groundnut, etc., setting-up pilot plants for
processing of produce, establishment of technology incubation centres,
identification/establishment of referral laboratories and certification facilities
should receive attention. The other potential areas of PPP include
organizing periodic open field days and interactive meets, joint project
proposal preparation for funding from different donors, providing easy
access to facilities in public and private sector institutions, and sponsoring
joint studies on adoption and impact of technologies.
ACCELERATED PROGRESS UNDER PPP: SOME SUGGESTIONS

PPP is a reality and a compulsion. Achieving fast progress is
dependent on certain requirements. They include, a high-level national
policy statement that unequivocally promotes PPP in agricultural research,
developing national policy and guidelines for PPP, devolution of powers,
freedom, flexibility with accountability in public sector institutions, more
studies and analyses of problems, prospects, mechanisms etc. of PPP within
the NARS and other science organizations, sponsoring fellowships to PG
students of public research institutions by private sectors, need-based
mobility of staff between public and private sectors, creation of apex
technology transfer and commercialization unit at the ICAR for guidance,
policy-analysis, regulation and policy communication, following principles
of PPP, namely, identifying partner, understanding partner, identifying
priorities, understanding common goal and ensuring communication
among partners, bringing in organization and management reforms
including organizing extensive trainings to contribute to build-up of positive
mindset, efficient work-culture, response style and time and incentives and
meet every year regularly to take stock and outline steps for moving
forward.
PPP is going to stay with us. But certain problems relating to trust,
credibility, work-culture, clear-cut business rules and legal framework, are
to be immediately addressed if fast progress is to be achieved. Strong
realization on both the sides to come together and work together will help
in overcoming these problems. Regular meetings and clear communication
between them will hasten the pace of progress under the PPP.
5
Crop Varieties and Planting Materials
G. Kalloo
Seed is the basic input for higher productivity. About 8,000 tonnes
of breeder seeds for different crops, including 2,500 tonnes for potato itself,
are produced annually. National Agricultural Research System has so far
released more than 3,300 improved varieties of food crops, pulses, oilseeds,
horticultural crops and commercial crops for commercial cultivation.
Integrity of seed multiplication chain is a crucial requirement for successful
agricultural production activity. We have a well-knit seed multiplication
and distribution system in the country with a network of 19 seed
certification agencies and nearly 100 notified seed-testing laboratories. The
country has varied agroclimates and a fast developing private seed sector,
presenting both challenges and opportunities.
There are about 150 research and development units in the country
with a significant capacity in the private sector for development of improved
seed material including hybrids. In addition to the National Seed
Corporation and State Farm Corporation of India, there are 13 State Seed
Corporations and several para-state bodies to multiply seed.
The vegetable seed requirement for India has been estimated about
35,000 tonnes annually. In this connection, the ICAR has initiated 20
revolving fund schemes at 16 institutions with an initial cost of Rs 167.62
lakh. Several certification standards for disease-free, tissue-cultured planting
materials have also been developed.
Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act: This act provides
protection for newly developed varieties including extant and farmers’
varieties. To provide protection to these varieties, there should be significant
distinctiveness, novelty, uniformity and stability. Both public and private
sectors should be partners in this effort. So far, 35 crops have been brought
under DUS testing.Strategic public-private partnership is necessary for
promotion of extant varieties. With the help the plant varieties and farmer’s
rights act, 2001, extant varieties can be effectively marketed abroad by
public-private consortia, and this requires, among other things, clear
guidelines for benefit-sharing among partners.
Former Deputy Director-General (Horticulture and Crop Sciences), Indian Council of Agri-
cultural Research, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan II, New Delhi 110 012
SEED QUALITY AND HEALTH
The seed quality has to be ensured including that of genetically

modified crops. Hybrid varieties provide 15-30% yield advantage.
Techniques for economic hybrid seed production are required to be
developed, and hybrid seed production needs to be promoted on a large
scale to meet country’s requirement. This is possible through an effective
cooperation between public and private sectors in seed technology such as
production, testing, training and awareness generation. Use of indigenous
genes, constructs and promoters is essential for long-term sustainability.
Both cooperative and corporate approaches have been found effective for
varieties popularization.
In addition to improving availability of quality seed, quality-planting
material for different crops also needs to be made available. Wherever
possible, we should develop and adopt modern techniques such as shoot-
tip graft, softwood graft, budding, micro-tubers and synthetic seeds to
produce sufficient quantities of planting materials. There has been a
considerable progress in the development and use of micropropagation
techniques for potato, banana, spices and flowers with appropriate
certification standards. True potato seed (TPS) production is an alternate
low-cost technology for producing healthy planting material for potato. In
fact, a combination of in-vitro multiplication and sensitive virus-detection
techniques have resulted into threefold improvement in potato seed health.
Several other fast and accurate protocols and kits for disease diagnostics
have been developed. Seed health is influenced by insects and
pathogens. Seed health can however be detected and monitored through
such non-destructive techniques as X-ray radiography and NMR imagine.
Methods are available for ensuring genetic purity of varieties and parental
lines.
ORGANIC CROP PRODUCTION
A new dimension for seed industry has been added for organic
production of crops. While there is a need for breeding suitable cultivars
and planting materials for organic farming, there is also a need for suitable
package of practices for seed and planting material production.
Considerable value-addition to varieties of seeds is possible through
maintenance breeding, seed priming, seed invigoration, seed coating and
seed pelleting.
The whole range of production and availability of quality seed and
planting material require a vibrant public-private partnership, nurtured and
supported through suitable agreements, contracts and sharing of resources.
Such alliances should come into existence in the very near future. The seed
production and availability of different crops must be governed through
appropriate quality standards and certification practices so that stakeholders
along the value-chain are benefited.
6
Capabilities in Agricultural Biotechnology
N. K. Singh
FOODGRAINS PRODUCTION VIS-À-VIS POPULATION GROWTH

TRENDS IN INDIA
India has made remarkable progress by quadrupling its foodgrains
production during the five decades of post-independence period, which
made the country self-sufficient to feed its burgeoning population that
tripled in the same period (Fig. 1). It used to suffer from repeated famines
during the colonial period and the early part of the post-independence era,
but overcame its food supply problems by concerted efforts of public policy
makers, project implementing government agencies, agricultural scientists,
and overall by the tenacity and wisdom of the Indian farmers in adopting
new technologies. The transformation in foodgrains production scenario
received much impetus during much celebrated “green revolution” in late
sixties and seventies. A look at the food production statistics clearly shows
that a steady increase in food production trend has been maintained beyond
the years. However, there were dips in food production growth curve that
were closely associated with the years of drought, and there is a worrying
hint of flattening of graph during the last 3-4 years. Although much less
celebrated, similar gains in production have been achieved in fruits,
vegetables, milk and poultry production in India. Unfortunately, the
production of grain-legumes including pulses which are the main source of
food proteins has remained stagnated over the years, leading to reduced per
caput availability, forcing heavy imports.
The gain in production was achieved and sustained largely by the
efforts of the public sector, public sector undertakings and the National
Agricultural Research System (NARS) that includes state agricultural
universities (SAUs) and the institutions under the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR). The main components of our green
revolution were: (i) Continuous development of high-yielding fertilizer-
responsive semi-dwarf varieties of wheat and rice; (ii) Quality seeds supplied
by the national and state seed corporations; (iii) Improved crop
management practices including (a) assured irrigation water, fertilizers and
Principal Scientist, National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Pusa, New Delhi
110 012
Fig. 1 Foodgrains production increased sufficiently to feed India’s burgeoning population

during the post independence five decades
pesticides, (b) use of farm machinery and implements, (c) availability of

rural credit on easy terms through co-operatives and rural banks, and (d)
imparting of know-how of the production technology to the farmers
through frontline demonstrations; (iv) Procurement price support system
and actual procurement of the produce by the government agencies. The
role of the private sector during this period had been minimal except for
the production and supply of pesticides and farm machineries. However
in changed economic scenario, the role of private sector is increasing as
there are now growing business opportunities in seed sector, contract
farming and food processing and marketing.
COMPLEMENTARITIES IN STRENGTHS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
SECTORS
There are certain key features of public and private sectors that determine
the extent of their likely involvement in any endeavour. The private sector is
profit oriented, which is crucial for its survival, and a part of their earning is
paid to the government in the form of taxes. The public sector on the other
hand has social responsibilities and must invest in all kinds of infrastructure
to support overall development for the benefit of all the citizens to ensure peace
and prosperity of the society in a holistic sense. Many of the public sector
activities may not be profitable in short-term, but are essential for long-term
stability of the country. The private sector is known to have better marketing
skills, efficient product delivery system, quality service providing capability,
and better up-scaling technologies. The public sector has extensive
infrastructure, institutions of higher learning that can generate knowledge
CAPABILITIES IN AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY 25
through basic research, and it has a vast pool of both teachers and trained
human resource. Also, the public sector has the capacity of solving those
problems that do not have immediate rewards in the form of monetary profits.
In changed economic scenario, complementarities of the public and private
sectors must come together for a better future of the Indian agriculture. With
proper regulatory mechanisms in place, the private sector will play increasingly
significant role in enhancing the security of the nation. There is a paradigm
shift in the role of public and private sectors in the agriculture as we are moving
from a largely agrarian society towards an industrially developed nation.
Status of the Public-Private Partnership in Agriculture

The public-private partnership is quite common in medicine. There are
several joint university-industry research projects, multi-party and multi-
sectoral research consortia, local development programmes between small
businesses and government, or large-scale global partnership programmes in
medicine,. e.g. international health sector hosts more than 100 public-private
partnerships addressing 40 distinct diseases and conditions. Here incentive
clearly lies in prospect of marketing and licensing rights for medicinal
products by the associated private sector in the international market. There
are valid reasons for low willingness and ability to enter into public-private
partnerships in agriculture. The agricultural sector is challenged by
fundamentally different ground realities. Quite often partners do not
adequately account for and minimize direct and hidden costs of a collaborative
research investment, as they are hindered by persistent negative perceptions
of each other. Furthermore, there is a lack of creative organizational
mechanism to reduce inter-sectoral competition for key assets and resources.
Even though demography of Indian population is different where about
70% of its people is involved in farming activities; it is a fast developing
country, where demography is now changing rapidly towards more
urbanization. There is a shift in the share of public and private sectors
expenditure in agriculture as the nation moves from agrarian societies to
urban societies. According to a UN survey conducted in 1995, there was
a sharp difference in the proportion of public and private sector investments
in agricultural research in developing and industrialized countries in 1993.
While public sectors in both developing and industrialized countries had
spent almost similar amount on agricultural research i.e. US$11,469 million
and US$10,215 million, the share of the private sector expenditure in
developing and industrialized countries was drastically different, i.e.US$672
million and US$10,829 million, respectively. Thus, only 5.5% of the total
expenditure on agricultural research in the developing countries was coming
from private sector, whereas the proportion was 55% in the industrialized
countries.
There may be several reasons for this but one obvious factor is the
high investment risk and lack of assured returns in agricultural sector of a
developing country like India, where farm-holdings are very small and most
farms are not running efficiently due to lack of basic inputs and managerial
skills. With the growing prosperity in India, the private sector is

discovering niches where it can make sufficient profits, which will be the
main incentive for its involvement in the agricultural sector. There are now
many examples of public-private partnerships in agricultural research and
development. For example, in Southeast Asia, Zeneca has provided genetic
material to several national agricultural research systems to develop delayed-
ripening traits in papaya, but has licensed the technology for local, non-
export use only through material transfer agreements. In Kenya, KARI
received training and technology from Monsanto to develop virus-resistant
sweet-potato for use only in the region through a licensing agreement on
technology donations. Proprietary technologies can be bought by the public
sector for use in the developing countries, e.g. a consortium of public-sector
institutes in Asia led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
has purchased the rights to a Bt gene owned by Planttech, a Japanese
company.
Public Sector Capabilities in Agricultural Biotechnology

It is clear that conventional methods of crop improvement have now
exhausted their potential, and have become inefficient at least in major
crops. The future transformation in the agricultural production in India
requires infusion of new technologies, e.g. Biotechnology, just as the
adoption of semi-dwarf varieties in the sixties and seventies played a crucial
role in ushering in a new era of recombination breeding in cereal crops,
that has sustained growth in crop productivity till now, but is now showing
signs of technology fatigue. Due to unique strengths and weaknesses of the
public and private sectors and a favourable intellectual property regime, it
is feasible to harness synergy of public and private sectors by
complementing strengths of each other through their partnerships.
Institutional Infrastructure
India has created a large number of public-sector institutions for
agricultural research and development. These include 97 directly under the
control of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), 38 State
Agricultural Universities (SAUs), 5 deemed universities, 1 Central
Agricultural University and Agricultural colleges/institutes under the
traditional central universities like Banaras Hindu University, together
comprising public sector National Agricultural Research System (NARS)
(Table 1). It is this NARS that has sustained gains of so called green
revolution by active research and development, human
resource development and agricultural extension activities over the last five
decades. Some of the NARS institutions are of international repute and have
contributed in major national and international scientific endeavours; others
are location-specific and commodity-specific to cater for multifarious needs
and aspirations of diverse climates and agro-ecological zones. There is no
other country in the world that can match the diversity of Indian
agriculture. The traditional farmers, the tribals and the modern agricultural
research scientists have collected and developed immense wealth of

germplasm, which is a gold mine for gene discovery and allele mining in
post-genomic era. The ICAR has very wisely established 4 national bureaux
for collection, maintenance, evaluation and utilization of animal, plant, fish
and microbial germplasm resources of the nation; considering alarming rate
by which species are becoming extinct with rapid industrialization and
urbanization.
Table 1. Institutional infrastructure in the Indian National Agricultural Research System

Sl No. Institution Number
1 ICAR institutes
Central Research Institutes 47
National Bureaux 5
Project Directorates 12
National Research Centres 33
2 State Agricultural Universities 38
3 Deemed Universities 5
4 Central Agricultural University 1
5 Central Universities with Agriculture Faculty 1
6 Biotechnology Parks (established and proposed) 17
Administrative Infrastructure
India has been one of the few countries in the world and perhaps the
first developing country to develop elaborate bio-safety guidelines to
conduct molecular biology and biotechnology research and development
activities. The setting-up of a separate Department of Biotechnology
(DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, as early as in 1986
gave a new impetus to the development of the field of modern biology and
biotechnology in India. In nearly two decades of its existence, the
department has promoted and accelerated pace of development of
biotechnology in the country. Through several R&D projects,
demonstrations and creation of infrastructural facilities, a clear visible
impact of this field has been seen. The DBT has made significant
achievements in growth and application of biotechnology in the broad areas
of agriculture, health-care, animal sciences, environment and industry. Of
particular relevance is the putting in place of detailed guidelines for food
and environmental safety guidelines for the genetically modified organisms.
The three tier system set-up for regulating recombinant DNA research,
controlled trials and finally the environmental release of transgenic
organisms includes Institutional Bio-safety Committee (IBSC), Review
Committee on Genetic Manipulations (RCGM) and Genetic Engineering
Approval Committee (GEAC). It is this system that supervised the release
of India’s first genetically engineered crop, i.e. Bt-cotton, a product
developed by the private sector. Several genetically engineered products are
in pipeline going through the mandatory regulatory testing mechanism.
Similarly, India has also developed an intellectual property rights
regime that balances its obligations under the WTO, and at the same time
safeguards the interests of its farmers and the public sector research and
development system by enacting a Plant Variety Protection and Farmers’
Right (PVPFR) act, and amending Indian Patent act to allow for product
patenting as required under the WTO. These administrative and policy
changes should encourage public-private partnerships in the agriculture
sector also. The government nodal agencies are mostly from the Ministry
of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environment and Fisheries and
the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation.
Trained Human Resource

India has one of the largest pool of trained human resource engaged
in agriculture. The ICAR alone has about 30,000 personnel, 7,000 of which
are active research scientists in all branches of agriculture. In addition, the
SAUs have about 26,000 scientists/professors teaching and involved in
research and extension activities in agriculture. There are more than 130
traditional state and central universities; many of which have agricultural
faculties and research workers in excess of thousand. The selected
laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are
actively engaged in the development of Biotech products, particularly in the
area of food, fermentation and medicinal plants. The Defence Research and
Development Organization (DRDO) has separate group of Defence
Agricultural Research Laboratories (DARLs), which employ a pool of
highly trained scientific personnel. The research activities and inventions
of scientists working in the public-sector institutions could derive more
values through upscaling and marketing skills of private commercial set-up
through public-private partnerships.
The Indian public-sector institutions produce more than 3,000 highly
trained M.Sc. Biotechnology professionals and similar number of PhDs per
year, a large fraction of which seek and find highly paid jobs in industrially
developed countries of Europe and North America. Although, many of
these postgraduates are now getting placement in private-sector industries,
their training could be modulated depending upon the industry needs with
effective public-private cooperation.
Major Achievements of Public Sector in Agricultural Biotechnology

Two decades of concerted efforts in public research and development
in identified areas of modern biology and agricultural biotechnology have
given rich dividends. The proven technologies at the laboratory level have
been scaled up and demonstrated in fields, particularly in micropropagation
of planting materials, biofertilizers and biocontrol agents. Patenting of
innovations, technology transfer to industries and close interaction with
them have given a new direction to biotechnology research in medicine and
diagnostics. Initiatives have been taken to promote transgenic research in
plants with emphasis on insect-pest and virus resistances, nutritional quality
enhancement, silk-worm genome analysis, plant genome research,
development, validation and commercialization of diagnostic kits and

vaccines for communicable diseases, food biotechnology, biodiversity
conservation and bio-prospecting, setting-up of micropropagation parks and
biotechnology based development for socially disadvantaged
groups, rural areas and women in different states. Some noteworthy
examples of public-sector achievements in agriculture biotechnology are as
follows.
• Decoding of rice genome chromosome 11 (Nature, 11 August
2005).
• DNA fingerprinting of rice, wheat, mustard, sugarcane, brinjal,
citrus, grapes, ber, jute etc.
• Map based cloning of rice blast resistance gene Pikh.
• Mapping of genes and quality trait loci (QTLs) for yield, quality,
drought and salt tolerance and insect resistance traits in rice and
downy mildew in maize.
• Marker-assisted breeding in rice (bacterial leaf blight) and wheat
(rust resistance) and maize (quality protein), for which lines are
under advance field trials.
• A large number of genes and promoters have been cloned for
transgenic development
• Transgenic rice, brinjal, tomato and mustard with genes for insect
resistance, virus resistance and drought tolerance are under limited
field trials.
Research programmes initiated : The ICAR and the DBT have

started a number of multi-institutional network projects for gene discovery,
transgenic development and marker-assisted breeding in crop-plants. These
include: DBT network project on Rice Functional Genomics; DBT network
project on Tomato Genomics; ICAR network project on Functional
Genomics and Transgenics in Crops; ICAR network project on Molecular
Breeding in Crops; ICAR network project on Gene Pyramiding in Crops;
ICAR network project on Biosystematics of Insects; ICAR National Seeds
Project
In addition, project proposals are under consideration for Microbial
Genomics and Pigeonpea Genomics initiative.
Future Prospects and Modes of Public-Private Partnership

With the opening up of Indian economy during the last decade, the
role of private sector has increased in many areas, which used to be
predominantly public-sector activities. In agriculture, the private sector has
found business opportunities in seed sector and allied biofertilizer,
biocontrol and micropropagation industries in addition to chemical
pesticides and farm machineries that they have already been engaged. Based
on the experience of the public-private partnership in the developed

countries there are many successful models on which public-private
partnership can be developed for the benefit of the society at large. These
include: (i) Joint R&D projects from conception to commercialization
(with joint IPR); (ii) Licensing of the public research output to private
sector for commercialization (iii) Private sector sponsored chairs and
fellowships in public institutions; (iv) Public sector infrastructure for testing
of private- sector products for agronomic performance and bio-safety; (v)
Academia-industry interface by regular dialog is a must, and establishment
of biotechnology parks for technology incubation before commercialization
is highly desirable to promote such partnership.
7
India’s Herbal Heritage
Satyabrata Maiti1 and K. A. Geetha2
India has a rich heritage and a long history of using medicinal and
aromatic plants in improving quality of life. And our country is also
fortunate, perhaps, to have the richest reservoirs of traditional herbal
medicinal plants and prescriptions. The Indian system of medicines
comprising Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani have their long roots in our
society. Ayurveda is about 5,000 years old, and predominantly uses
medicinal plants for its preparations and formulations. Modern
pharmacopoeia has also enlisted about 25% of drugs derived from plants.
A vast majority of modern drugs although are synthetic analogues but are
built on prototype compounds isolated from plants. The present era is
witnessing a fascinating rejuvenation in traditional system of medicine.
India’s plant biodiversity is one of the richest in the world. It homes
about 43,000 of plant species on the earth; many of which have not been
fully explored and cultivated. Western Ghat and Himalayas are the most
tempting locations for those in bio-industries, causing a serious danger to
the plant wealth due to its over-exploitation, causing serious depletion.
About 7,500 plant species, out of 43,000 that are said to exist in the
country, are recorded in various folklore medicines. About 1,700 species are
referred in the Ayurvedic texts.
From time immemorial, India has long heritage of use of herbal
products not only for medicine but also for cosmetics, health hygiene,
toiletries, fragrance and food supplements. The global herbal industry is
projected to be worth US$ 200 billion in 2008 and US$ 5 trillion in 2050
(Source: The World Bank Report, 2000). Functional foods are becoming
very important in international markets. These foods are used for correction
and maintenance of gut health, heart health, bone health and immune
function. A large number of tropical plants high in antioxidants, proteins
and immunomodulator contents are good candidates for functional food to
capture burgeoning market. Present market is about US$ 2.0 billion in
Europe and about US$ 5.0 billion in US. At present, herbal cosmetic is a
new emerging field, known as cosmeceuticals (functional make-up); parallel
1
Director, 2Scientist (Senior Scale), National Research Centre on Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants, Borivali, Anand 387 310 (Gujarat)
to trend of functional food. Cosmeceuticals are cosmetics and

pharmaceuticals hybrids designed to promote skin health and beauty. Some
of the moisturizers, for example, are designed for transdermal system of
nutrients delivery to body. Indicating prospect of the field, L’Oreal has
entered into a joint venture with renowned food manufacturing company
Nestle to develop cosmeceuticals. Present market of cosmeceuticals is
US$5.0 billion in Europe and US$ 2.5 billion in US. Products of Aloe
vera are now widely used in cosmetics. Similarly identifying traditional skin-
care and beauty products may offer good scope for future business.
India’s share in the growing world herbal market is negligible mainly
because of the inadequate investment in research in this sector and lack of
validation of our old heritage knowledge in the light of the modern science
that is acceptable to westerners. However, the potential of India is immense,
if orchestrated efforts are put forth with a clear vision to capture a lion-
share of the world herbal trade in the next 10 years. We need to give a
special emphasis on natural products derived from herbs, spices, and
aromatic and medicinal plants from rich biodiversity of our tropical rain-
forests of western Ghat and temperate forests of Himalayas.
STATUS OF TRADE IN MEDICINAL PLANTS

Out of 8,000 plant species recorded in medicinal use in India, more
than 1,000 are estimated to be in commercial trade as plant raw drugs.
Inventory of such species, prepared by FRLHT, based on extensive surveys
of plant raw drug markets across the country and responses obtained from
a few sampled ISM industries, enlist about 880 botanical species. Out of
top 100 traded medicinal plants of India, only 5 of these species are
obtained entirely from cultivation, Aloe barbadensis, Cassia angustifolia,
Lawsonia inermis, Plantago ovata and Trachyspermum ammi. The remaining
95 species occur in cultivated as well as wild state (41 species) or only in
wild state (54 species). There is a need to develop appropriate strategies
for cultivation of the remaining species.
CHALLENGES BEFORE THE INDUSTRIES

• Our export is stagnating around Rs 500 crore during the last
several years. In spite of our immense potential, the export is not
going up. This is because of our export is mainly of crude
drugs. Until we increase our share in finished products, our
share in export earnings will remain stagnating. At present, we
export about 27% finished product, 20% extracts and 53% crude
drugs.
• Supply of quality products free from pesticide residues and heavy
metals and microbial contamination is a real challenge for India,
since international market is quality conscious.
WEAKNESSES OF THE MP SECTOR

There are weaknesses of the sector which need immediate attention.
INDIA’S HERBAL HERITAGE 33
• Poor database (do not match with production, utilization and

supply)
• Lack of well-defined quality standards of raw drugs and ISM
products
• Lack of knowledge on quality aspects of variability available in
nature
• Inadvertent use of wrong plant species
• Marketing inefficient; informal; secretive and opportunistic
• Lack of desire to collaborate and co-operate among stakeholders
ROLE OF THE ICAR IN PROMOTION OF MP

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research had established a
National Research Centre for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (NRCMAP)
on 24 November 1992 at Boriavi in Anand district of Gujarat to work
exclusively on medicinal and aromatic plants.
The ICAR is also operating an All-India Coordinated Research Project
on medicinal and aromatic plants since 1971 which has been renamed as
All-India Networking Research Project on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
(AINPMAP) in the 10th five year plan. There are ten centres of this in SAUs
distributed in different climates
ICAR’s Strength
• We have diverse climates for growing large number of medicinal
plants and rich biodiversity from our tropical rain forests of
Western Ghat and temperate forests of Himalayas.
• We have created All-India Networking Research Project centres
located in almost all conditions.
• NRCMAP offers a platform for genotype × environment
interaction studies which are important for quality assurance of MP.
• NRCMAP gives a forum for germplasm assembly within the
country.
Research Mandates
• Develop good agricultural practices (GAP) for important
medicinal plants through basic, strategic and applied researches.
• Germplasm enhancement of various medicinal and aromatic
plants.
• Co-ordinate research under the All-India Networking Research
Project on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
• Act as the National Repository for genetic resources of some
important medicinal and aromatic plants
• Act as an Information Data Bank on medicinal and aromatic
plants.
• Transfer of technologies developed by the NRC to farmers
through cooperation with the developmental agencies
NRC Research Thrusts

CROP IMPROVEMENT
• Introduction, collection and enhancement of germplasm
• Breeding for high yield
• Breeding for quality
• Breeding for disease-pests resistance
CROP PRODUCTION
• Development of good agricultural practices
• Water, nutrient integrated pest management
• Developing yield forecasting models
CROP PROTECTION
• Development of IPM technology
• Disease and pest forecasting
QUALITY ASSESSMENT
• Development of new and fast techniques for quality assessment
• Monitoring quality of raw materials
• Fixing standards for raw materials
POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT
• Development of efficient drying system
• Development of storage technology for reducing post-harvest
losses
• Monitoring of aflatoxin contamination
BIOTECHNOLOGY
• Genetic fingerprinting
• Micropropagation
8
Transformation in Floriculture through
Public-Private Partnership
Vishnu Swaroop
Flowers and gardens have been associated with Indian culture from
pre-historic and Vedic times. Aesthetic, social and economic aspects of
flowers, directly influencing mankind and environment, have received due
attention only in recent years. Ornamental plants have an important role in
environmental planning of urban and rural areas for abatement of pollution,
social and rural forestry, wasteland development, afforestation and
landscaping of outdoor and indoor spaces.
Flower-crops provide higher income from comparatively smaller areas
with high profitability as compared to other crops. However, advanced
floriculture technology is capital-intensive in view of the high cost of
greenhouses, net houses, equipment, machinery, chemicals, storage,
packaging and other infrastructural facilities. Floriculture generates gainful
employment for youth in suburban and rural areas. It is no longer
considered to have an aesthetic value alone, as it has proven to be useful in
export trade, and India must strive forward to explore fully potential of
labour-cost advantage, manpower and favourable climate.
Today floriculture has blossomed into a profitable agri-business in
India, both for domestic and export markets. The floriculture industry
comprises following.
• The florist trades of
- Traditional fresh flowers, either as loose/stalkless flowers or
with small stems, like rose, jasmine, marigold, aster,
chrysanthemum, tuberose, crossandra, barleria, lotus etc.
- Contemporary cut-flowers with long stems and cut foliage
such as roses, lilies, chrysanthemum, dahlia, gerbera,
gladiolus, carnation, orchids, anthuriums and a few others.
- Dried flowers and foliage that are naturally dehydrated or
desiccated.
- Value-added products, like bouquets, floral baskets, flower
arrangements, garlands, floral ornaments, pot-pourri etc.
Director (R&D), Indo-American Hybrid Seeds, 214, Palika Bhawan, Sector XIII, R.K. Puram,
New Delhi 110 066
• Plant nursery for propagation and supply of live ornamental plants

including those multiplied by tissue culture.
• Supply of seedlings and rooted cuttings of bedding plants.
• Production and sale of seeds, bulbs, tubers, corms and other
propagating materials.
• Flower perfume trade of essential oil, attar, concrete etc. mainly
rose, jasmine, lavender, tuberose and geranium, required for
cosmetic, food, beverage, incense and flavour industries and also
natural floral colouring pigments for food industry.
• Plant rental services of indoor plants for commercial complexes,
offices and business centres, etc.
• Landscaping of outdoor spaces including parks, gardens, avenues
and indoor landscaping in homes, offices and shops
FLORICULTURE TRADE IN INDIA

Flowers and ornamental plants are grown for domestic and export
markets. The rise in growth of floriculture recently in domestic market is
primarily due to three major factors — changes in social values of people
and transformation in life-style, increase in income-levels, particularly
disposable income and changes in urban-rural population mix with
increasing population in cities. Besides, the expansion of tourism and hotel
industry has also contributed to change in social value. Traditional flowers
are grown on 80,000 hectares with an annual production of about 3.5 lakh
tonnes loose/stalkless flowers and 600 million cut-flowers for domestic
market. The total value of domestic flower trade is about Rs 250 crore
annually.
There are about 1,000 horticultural nurseries in different parts of the
country; most of which deal with fruit-plants and also ornamental plants
(trees, shrubs, climbers etc.) , indoor plants, flower-seeds and bulbs, tubers
and corms. A few tissue-culture units established in Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
produce tissue-cultured plants for distribution to large growers and also for
export.
Flower seeds are produced on about 1,500-2,000 acres per year
mainly in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana;
most of which are exported. About 40-50% of total flower seed production
area is in Punjab from where about Rs 6-7 crore worth of seeds are exported
annually.
Export Trade
The floriculture export trade had started in 1991-92 with the
establishment of the export-oriented cut-flower units under greenhouse at
Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and a few other places after the thrust on the
export of floriculture products and liberalization of import and export
policies by the Government of India. The infrastructures of greenhouses,
machinery, planting material as well as the production technology for roses
TRANSFORMATION IN FLORICULTURE THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP 37
were introduced here mainly from the Netherlands and Israel. Presently
about 210 hectares are under cut-flower production, mostly roses in
greenhouses. The total export of cut-flowers, dried flowers and dried plants,
live plants and foliage, bulbs increased to Rs 249.5 crore in 2003-04 from
Rs 18.80 crore in 1993-94. Cut-flowers export contributed 18% while 71%
was from dried flowers and dried plants. Among cut-flowers, the export of
roses was about 95%. However, India’s share is only 0.18% in the world
floriculture trade of US$ 9.4 billion, which is likely to grow to US$ 16
billion by 2010.
Public and Private Partnership

Role of public sector: The public and private partnership based on
the symbiotic relationship with mutual confidence and trust is vital in the
national development of floriculture in the country. Both public institutions
and private companies are important stakeholders in the development and
rapid advancement of floriculture in the country. The private sector will
always look for backward linkage with public institutions in respect to
scientific and technological innovative and updated knowledge enhancement
and enrichment and human resource development of highly qualified and
skilled scientists and technicians required in agri-business.
Research and extension: The research in public institutions and
agricultural/horticultural universities should be oriented towards
floriculture- industry need-based projects in important growing areas of
specific flower crops for both domestic and export markets. In this context,
a few important aspects requiring research priority are mentioned as follows.
• To develop efficient, eco-friendly and cost-effective production
system for cut-flowers under greenhouses or protected environment
under the Indian tropical climate in the export zone areas for
export. The beginning of floriculture export of cut-flowers,
particularly of cut-roses coincided with economic reforms
introduced in the country in 1991. Several export-oriented units
(more than one hundred) were established in Pune, Bangalore,
Hyderabad and a few other places in the country with import of
infrastructure for greenhouses, machinery, chemicals, pesticides,
growing media, planting material etc. along with production
technology as well as technical consultants from Holland and Israel.
The import of greenhouse infrastructure, production technology
and expertise was allowed in view of the non-availability of these
within the country; and collaboration of foreign companies with
Indian counterparts was allowed by the Government of India. Later
it was observed that greenhouse technology including design and
infrastructure and growing system brought in from the temperate
countries was not fully adapted to our tropical conditions.
• There is a need to develop F1 hybrids of traditional flowers like
marigold, jasmine, carnation, aster, balsam, antirrhinum etc.
suitable for growing under tropical/subtropical climates. In many
of the annual flowers, the varieties grown by the farmers for cut-
flowers are old, obsolete, exotic varieties. Seeds of F1 hybrids of
these annuals imported by private companies are expensive and
often not available to small growers because most of these seeds
are utilized for landscaping large gardens or home gardens in
cities.
• Basic biotechnology studies related to male sterility may be
undertaken by molecular analysis of mtDNA and cp genomes
and their interaction with nuclear genes. This will be useful in
heterosis breeding projects in flowering annuals.
• Agro-techniques should be standardized for growing flowers in
existing cropping systems as a diversified crop for higher or
additional income generation.
• New and novel varieties/hybrids developed using biotechnology
and molecular biology techniques will be a boon to floriculture
industry.
• Pre-bred material developed by conventional breeding or
molecular breeding will be a great help to private companies in
their endeavour to develop F1 hybrids or varieties.
• Sharing of germplasm pool is needed for strengthening flower
breeding in private sector.
• Survey and collection of native species and varieties of flowers in
the rich natural habitats of the country, if undertaken, will prove
useful in introducing new flowers to the world; which is now an
emerging enterprise. Many countries abroad are making efforts in
this direction and a few new flowers have been introduced into
international market, like Protea, Banksia, Lisianthus, Bouvardia,
Heliconia, Alostroemeria, Oriental lilies and a few others.
• Public institutions having modern tissue-culture laboratories may
provide such facilities and also supply tissue-culture plants and
develop protocols for ornamental plants required by industry.
• Standardization of post-harvest management system and
packaging methods of flowers will greatly assist in growth of
industry-based domestic market of traditional flowers as well as
export, particularly of orchids, anthuriums and oriental lilies.
• It is necessary to stress research on designing and construction of
effective, adaptable and low-cost greenhouses and net houses
suited to Indian environment/climate compatible with desired
production technology in important flower-growing regions in
collaboration with private companies; according to the
requirements of the growing quality flowers for export as well as
for domestic trade.
• Both contractual research and collaborative research with private
companies may be taken up in public-research institutions for
mutual benefits.
TRANSFORMATION IN FLORICULTURE THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP 39
Human Resource Development

The private companies will always depend upon public institutions for
their requirement of scientific, technical, field and extension staff.
Reorientation of syllabus and curriculum in floriculture with emphasis on
commercialization and trade aspects will be necessary for rapid expansion
of floriculture industry. The private sector can be an important catalyst in
providing forward linkage to take advanced scientifically-based production
technology to farmers resulting in higher production and better quality of
floricultural products.
• Besides highly qualified scientific staff, there are demands for
short-term training courses for field and extension staff in growing
flowers under field and greenhouse conditions.
• Equally important will be the development of technical manpower
at managerial and operational levels for commercial greenhouse
production.
• There is a necessity to upgrade teaching facilities in public
institutions by providing highly qualified and experienced staff
and modern advanced logistics for laboratories, greenhouses, net
houses, mechanical equipment, chemicals, growing media,
pesticides, irrigation, fertigation and drip-equipment in
agricultural universities and research centres.
• Nowadays, horticulture including floriculture is considered a
highly developed commercially-oriented discipline. Hence, there
is an urgent requirement to initiate management courses (MBA)
in horticulture including floriculture in agricultural universities
and ICAR institutes. It will not only provide capable technically
qualified managerial personnel to private entrepreneurs but also
opportunity for self-employment to students after graduation.
Presently greenhouse management and production of roses and a
few other flowers mainly for export is looked after by MBA
qualified and experienced managers, who unfortunately do not
have scientific and technical knowledge and experience, which is
very much desired in such capital- intensive commercial scientific
and technology-driven ventures.
Private Sector
There are a few private companies in floriculture business in the country
which have good R&D facilities. Hence, most of the companies will have to
depend upon public institutions for scientific and technical support for their
successful performance and growth in floriculture trade. Though there are
financial constraints in providing adequate funds for floriculture research
projects both in public and private sectors, yet it may be in the greater interest
of private companies to support funding of research projects and offer
research grants, fellowships or scholarships in public institutions.
A few private companies that have modern scientific equipment and
infrastructure for tissue culture, biotechnology and molecular biology
techniques can share these facilities with public institutions where these may
not be available. These companies having excellent climate-controlled
greenhouses or net houses, especially for production of cut-roses and other
flowers for export can be helpful to public institutions in designing and
construction of greenhouses suited to specific locations or agri-zones.
The International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) accredited seed
testing laboratories in the private sector may share their modern seed testing
facilities with public institutions and also assist in training of their staff
regarding international seed testing standards for issuing orange and blue
tags required for seed export.
The private companies having expertise in commercial flowers
growing and hybrid seed production in greenhouses and open fields can
collaborate in practical training of students and extension staff of public
institutions on these aspects.
The companies with strong R&D and Product Development Divisions
may be willing to mutually share their highly qualified and experienced
professionals in research and teaching as well as management of floriculture
with those of public sector with a view to improving human resource
development programmes.
The already advanced e-commerce and information technology
systems available in the industry, as in case of flower auction centres in
Bangalore and other places, can be adopted by public sector to help flower-
growers of traditional flowers for local market in respect to market
intelligence, farm equipment, agri-inputs (seeds plants, fertilizers, chemicals,
pesticides, growing media etc.), desired flower quality, production
technology, post-harvest management, packaging etc. It will be helpful in
strengthening extension services in rural areas.
9
Aerobic Composting by Excel Process
S. Kundu
With pressure to produce more from a limited farm land-holding,

farmers, in general, have been using indiscriminately only synthetic
fertilizers. The practice of adding organic manure has lost its relevance.
Burning farm waste is the easiest way to dispose rather than convert
organic waste into stabilized organic manure. The general perception
that organic waste is organic manure is dangerous, and has to be stopped.
Proper understanding of the useful organic waste and its conversion into
stabilized organic manure has to be promoted. The concept of organic
farming itself has its limitations if standards of organic manures are not
defined.
Excel Industries Limited, Mumbai, has developed an effective and eco-
friendly aerobic composting technology for bioconversion of organic
fractions from city organic waste and farm waste into a useful end product,
i.e. Bio-Organic Soil Enricher “CelrichTM”. This technology has been jointly
developed by scientists and technologists of the organization. The
technology consists of a controlled biological process and mechanical
screening thereafter.
Excel Process has optimized aerobic composting process to degrade
city organic waste and farm waste in the shortest possible time by adapting
both microbiological technology and different streams of engineering
technology. The three most important factors for making good compost are
chemical make-up of the raw materials, the porosity of the pile, and the
population of the organisms involved in composting process. Compost
“happens” either aerobically or anaerobically when organic materials are
mixed and piled together. Aerobic composting is the most efficient form of
decomposition and produces finished compost in shortest time.
Microbes breakdown organic compounds to obtain energy for life
processes. The “heat” generated in aerobic composting process or aerobic
oxidation of organic matter to carbon-dioxide is the by-product of biologic
“burning”. If proper amounts of carbon, water and air are provided, aerobic
organisms will dominate compost pile and decompose raw organic materials
most efficiently. Optimal conditions for rapid, aerobic composting include
General Manager, Envirobiotech Division, M/s Excel Industries Limited, 184-87, Swami
Vivekanand Road, Jogeshwari (W), Mumbai 400 102 (Maharashtra)
carbon-nitrogen (C:N) ratio between 25:1 and 35:1, moisture content

between 45% and 60% by weight, available oxygen concentration greater
than 5%, bulk density less than 500-700kg per cubic metre and pH between
5.5 and 8.5.
Mesophilic bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and protozoa
(microorganisms comfortable at 10°C and 45°C) initiate composting
process, and as temperature increases as the result of oxidation of carbon
compounds, thermophiles (microorganisms comfortable at 45°C and 70°C)
take over. Temperature in a compost pile typically follows a pattern of rapid
increase to 49°C to 60°C within 48 to 72 hours of the windrow formation,
and remains for several weeks. This is the active phase of composting, in
which easily degradable compounds and oxygen are consumed, pathogens
(e.g., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, etc.,) and weed seeds are killed.
During thermophilic active composting phase, oxygen must be replenished
by turning of windrows.
As the active composting phase subsides, temperature gradually
declines to around 38°C. The rate of oxygen consumption declines to where
compost can be stockpiled without turning. During curing, organic
materials continue to decompose and are converted to biologically stable
humus substances. Curing is a critical and often neglected stage of
composting. Immature compost can contain high levels of organic acids and
have a high C:N ratio, extreme pH value, or high salt content; all of which
can damage or kill plants when compost is amended to pots or soil.
Compost is considered finished or stable after temperature in windrow core
reaches near-ambient levels for several days. These measurements should be
made when compost windrow has at least 40% moisture content and a
minimum critical volume of 1 cubic metre to retain heat.
STAGES IN EXCEL PROCESS

The operations of aerobic process involve three vital steps: windrow-
yard management; space management; end product recovery.
Windrow-yard management: This marks beginning of the treatment
process, which involves all the aspects for smooth and efficient running of
the process without affecting production economics. The following are
important steps for windrow-yard management of the urban solid waste and
rural farm wastes.
Treatment with culture “BioculumTM” [Significance]: The natural flora
present in the organic waste will carry out decomposition at a fairly slow
pace and may create some erratic problems for the process. Since biological
process has to be completed within a limited time period, utmost
importance has to be given to biological treatment. To accelerate process
of decomposition and to reduce risk of erratic results, inoculation of waste
with beneficial microbes is essential. Excel process provides a biological
“BioculumTM” containing a consortium of beneficial microbes (bacteria and
fungi), which can effectively degrade biopolymers like lignin, cellulose, etc.,
and which in turn will increase rate of decomposition. A proper dosage of
AEROBIC COMPOSTING BY EXCEL PROCESS 43
“BioculumTM” is required to have a maximum recovery. Any laxity in

application or dosage of the culture can lead to losses, which may become
noticeable only after mechanical screening is over. At this stage, no
corrective steps would be possible. Hence, treatment of organic waste
should be done religiously using correct dosage to derive optimum benefits
from Excel technology.
Treatment Procedure [Preparation of slurry]: BioculumTM is in powder
form. For better spread, it should be mixed with water to form slurry. And
pH of water should be 7 ± 0.5. Quantity of water to be used will depend
upon the moisture level of the organic waste.
Dosage: “BioculumTM” 800g is used to treat 1 tonne of organic waste.
The dosages are made into 2 splits: 500g per tonne of fresh organic waste
on the day one and 300g per tonne of organic waste at the time of second
turning. Besides 200 g of “PhosphonitroculumTM” per tonne of final
product is added at the time of packing, which contains beneficial nitrogen
fixers and phosphate solubilizers
Preparation of windrow: Once organic waste is treated with
“BioculumTM” slurry and dry formulation, it is formed into a windrow in
the designated space with a Backhoe front End loader or suitable turning
equipment.
Aeration/moisture maintenance and turning of windrows: Aerobic
bacteria need oxygen regularly. Regular turning of windrow is required to
ensure availability of oxygen. Hence, turning of windrows at the fixed
intervals is strictly followed. Besides, providing aeration, turning also helps
in lateral movement of the organic wastes towards drying area of platform
at the centre from where matured and decomposed organic wastes are taken
up for mechanical screening. Planning of windrows is done in such a way
that any backlog in turning will restrict area for acceptance of organic wastes
in the yard. Also, due to high costs, there could be a natural tendency to
reduce turning operation to gain economy. This may result in poor quality
of end product, low product recovery and generation of greenhouse gases.
The cost of the turning operation gets offset by improvement in quality and
increase in the recovery percentage.
A Backhoe front-end loader is a suitable machine for turning. The
machine may be stationed between windrow to be turned and the area
where the turned material has to be formed into a windrow. By keeping
machine on jacks, the Backhoe may be used to dig heap and drop material
to new area. It may be dropped from maximum height so that interlocking
is removed and the material is properly aerated. Top and outer portions of
the old windrow may be dry and slow in decomposition process. This
material should go to the core of the new windrow to have a speedy
decomposition.
There will be a loss in moisture during each turning. This is
maintained at an optimum level of 55% by spraying freshwater to material
while turning windrow. Supplementary dosage of “BioculumTM” is given
while turning as per the inoculation schedule to ensure a uniform

mixing.
Intermediate storage: Excess moisture present in the composted
material can reduce yields of semi-finished material. To prevent this, the
material is air-dried to reduce the moisture content to 30-35%. After giving
composting for 42-48 days, the material is spread with the help of a
Backhoe front-end loader over a demarcated area meant for intermediate
storage. A composite sample is drawn from the material to estimate
moisture content before subjecting it to mechanical screening. Intermediate
storage will also remove foul odour, which may persist within material. It
has following advantages.
• Biological activity still continues to reach perfection in maturity.
• Initial screening machines may accommodate higher levels of
moisture (15-20%). Optimum level of moisture for final screening
is below 10%. The storage allows excess moisture to evaporate
due to heat generated and also due to natural air-drying. Proper
ventilation with exhaust-fans can speed-up drying process.
• Recovery of end product is improved.
• Quality of end product is improved.
• A breakdown in upstream/downstream machines does not
paralyze total screening operations.
• Interruption due to rains could be surpassed fairly.
Maturity test: The end product has to be fully matured and biologically
stabilized to give better results in field. A composite sample is collected from
final composted material, before passing it for mechanical screening. This
test will help to understand degradation status of the material. A positive
maturity test indicates that material is biologically stable and it can be
processed further for mechanical sieving. If material tests negative then, it
is recomposed till material stabilizes. If immature (maturity negative)
material is taken up for screening, recovery will be reduced and quality of
end product will be poor. Besides, end product after packing will keep on
generating heat due to continuation of biological process, because of
imperfect bio-stabilization at the yard.
Sieving: The spread-out material is sequentially passed out through a
trammel of 65mm, 35mm and 16mm mesh size. Care should be taken so
that moisture content of the material is not more than 30-35%. The
material obtained after passing through 16mm trammel is called as “semi-
finished product”.
Curing: The semi-finished product obtained after screening is formed
into a windrow in semi-finished storage area. Material is subjected to
sampling by trained supervisors using cup-and-cone method for testing its
maturity in the laboratory. If material indicates generation of heat or if it
indicates negative maturity from laboratory tests and also generates foul
odour then it is allowed to cure till a maturity stage is reached. This is
indicated by no rise in temperature of windrow, a maturity positive test, a
pH range of 6-8, a blackish brown colour, free-flowing texture and an
AEROBIC COMPOSTING BY EXCEL PROCESS 45
earthy aroma. These indications can be taken as the criteria for packing of
material as the final product. Normally, the curing of the semi-finished
material can take around 7-15 days, depending on the nature of the semi-
finished material. The cured final product should contain maximum
moisture content of 25%. In case of excess moisture content, the material
is dried in a clean area till expected moisture content is achieved. In-house
quality parameters of the final product “CelrichTM” are in Tables 1,2
Table 1. Specifications for different parameters

Parameters Expectations
Physical
pH [range] 6.5 - 8.5
Moisture content [maximum %] 25
Bulk density [range](g/cc) 0.7 - 0.9
Maturity test [starch Iodine test] Positive
Electrical conductivity [max](dS/cm) 4
Sand content [maximum %] 10
Particle size 4mm
Chemical
Total organic matter [minimum %] 30
Organic carbon [minimum %] 12
Total nitrogen [minimum %] 0.8
C : N ratio [range] 10:1 to 20:1
Microbiological [cfu/g]
Total bacterial count 108 -1010
Total mould count 104 -106
Total actinomycetes count 104 -106
Total coliforms [maximum] 10 3
Total Salmonella sp. Nil
Total Shigella sp. Nil
Note: The organic fertilizer may contain agriculturally useful beneficial bacteria, fungi and
actinomycetes in varying proportions from time to time.
Table 2. Maximum permissible* limit of heavy metals
Sl No. Parameters Concentration not to exceed

[mg/kg dry basis]
1. Arsenic [As] 10.00
2. Cadmium [Cd] 5.00
3. Chromium [Cr] 50.00
4. Copper [Cu] 300.00
5. Lead [Pb] 100.00
6. Mercury [Hg] 0.15
7. Nickel [Ni] 50.00
8. Zinc [Zn] 1,000.00
*Compost [final product] exceeding the above stated concentration limits shall not be used
for food crops. However, it may be utilized for purposes other than growing food crops. [25 th
September’2000 notification in “The Gazette of India” by the Ministry of Environment and
Forest].
10
Biopesticides and Biological Control for
Crop Protection
T.P. Rajendran
Indiscriminate use of pesticides has eliminated several natural enemies

from different crop ecosystems. This has led researchers in plant protection
to think seriously about alternate pest-control technologies. Biological
pest control is one such technology, which has gained in importance over
the years.
The Project Directorate of Biological Control (PDBC) has, in its
mandate, identified thrust areas of research to develop protocols for mass-
scale production of natural enemies for key crop pests to facilitate
commercial-scale production of key species of bioagents for large-scale
utilization, and to popularize biological control as an important component
of pest management for adoption by farmers.
Impact assessment of the technologies in the context of
commercialization and field use is of utmost importance. The specific
objectives of such an exercise should include identification of technologies
on important biological control agents in terms of production technology
for commercialization and field use, and assessment of socio-economic
impact of technologies. These will help identifying methods to reduce cost
per unit of output, minimize losses due to pests, sustain natural resources,
and increase income and employment due to use of these technologies and
suggest policy direction for priority-setting and future research on these
technologies.
There is a need to assess impact and returns to investment on
technologies and illustrate how technologies are serving society by raising
income and employment, minimizing losses due to pests, sustaining natural
resources and increasing commodity value.
The economic benefits of the technologies will have to be estimated,
and these would be best done by developing public-private partnership in
identifying suitable technologies for commercialization and identifying areas
for joint validation of efficacy of technologies so developed. Production and
consumption data for biological control agents could be effectively used to
Assistant Director-General (Plant Protection), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi
Bhawan, New Delhi 110 001
BIOPESTICIDES AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL FOR CROP PROTECTION 47
estimate supply and demand elasticity, thus making an impact assessment

of technologies and also economic benefits to the society.
STAKEHOLDERS’ EXPECTATIONS
While identifying tools of crop protection like biological control

agents, it is necessary to understand expectations of different stakeholders
interested in the technology. The following points give some of the
expectations of the stakeholders.
Expectations of the Farming Community

The farming community even though may not be entirely tuned to
the use of biological control agents, but those who are aware and would
like to use them are faced with difficulty of finding agents at the time when
they need them. There is also the question of quality of bioagents; several
times they turn out to be ineffective because of lack of quality checks. This
results in farmers loosing confidence in the agent and discontinuing of its
use. Many times farmers also find application methods very cumbersome
and impractical, like application in the evening hours for NPV and pinning
trichocard bits in several spots; again prompting them to stop
using technology. Ease of application and technology directed towards this
end could go a long way in alleviating this problem and reducing drudgery.
Expectations of the Extension Agencies

Extension agencies have a strong role to play in popularizing these
agents and increasing their uptake through demonstrations and other
diffusion methodologies. In this process, the following points need to be
addressed: Making available quality agents for demonstration; Capacity-
building of extension functionaries to be convinced of the efficacy of the
technology and possess a knowledge-base for effective dissemination;
Synchronization of recommendations between different agencies.
Expectations of the Public-sector Research Organizations

The public-sector research organizations like ICAR institutes, SAUs
and CIPMCs etc. also expect help in technology building, assessment,
refinement and adoption by private industry and extension agencies. In this,
it would be appropriate to empower KVKs to produce quality bioagents
for demonstration. Some agents like Trichogramma, Chrysoperla, NPV could
be starting points to develop a rearing-and-production unit which could
form seeds for others in the region. There is a strong need to simplify
registration protocols so that even small-scale entrepreneurs and co-
operatives can take up task of producing agents and marketing them. There
is also a need to explore possibility of attempting exclusive allocation of
human, financial and infrastructural resources for this activity so that
continuity and specializations are not lost. The government should also
encourage joint research project collaborations with industry and other
public-sector organizations.
Expectations of the Private Industry

The private industry expects efficient strains of bioagents amenable for
mass production and mechanization, development of low-cost technology
for production, formulation, long-term storage, transport and packing, data
sharing on toxicology and registration and an efficient extension system in
place for creating proper awareness and demonstration to enable a constant-
and-assured demand.
Expectations of the Funding Agencies

Mandatory certifications on good agricultural practices (GAP) in the
production of horticultural and other crops for fresh consumption, so that
biological control agents find a niche in practices, and are promoted. This
would also help in bringing more area under IPM technologies with
biological control as an important component. Efficient and robust IPM
technologies should be put in place to enable this.
Expectation of the Policy-makers

There is a need to find efficient technologies to manage crisis pests.
Enhancement of agricultural growth through sustainable crop-protection
technologies that will contribute to products for a globally competitive
market is the need of the hour.
AREAS FOR JOINT VALIDATION OF EFFICACY OF TECHNOLOGY

The following areas could be identified for joint validation of
technology in partnership.
Production Technology
• Scaling up processes for microbials and macrobials
• Cost-effective and quality production of bioagents
• Mechanization of production technologies
Commercialization
• Explorations of local and global markets for technologies
• Microbials – NPV, solid-state fermentation of antagonists
• Macrobials – Trichogramma, Chrysoperla
EXPLORATIONS FOR PARTNERSHIP

The explorations for developing this partnership could take into
consideration the following.
• Developed technologies to be transferred on non-exclusive basis
• Greater use of biotechnological tools for strain identification,
improvement and mass production and increased use of molecular
markers in the process
• Design of the technology based on requirement of stakeholders
• IT to be used in helping diffusion process of the technology
• Validation of the efficacy of the technology
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
The following terms of reference could serve in developing a

framework for assessment and impact of the technology.
• Cost incurred in developing production technology
• Cost of production and application of the agent(s)
• Field application technology – ease, skill
• Adoption pattern
• Employment generation – raising the income level
• Anticipated minimization of losses due to pests
• Sustaining natural resources
• Increasing commodity value of crops
Technology Assessment
The developed technologies could be assessed in long-run using
following parameters and would be useful in refining technology and finally
prioritizing researches for efficient utilization of resources and manpower.
• Adoption rate of technology
• Depreciation rate of technology
• Expected life of technology
• Feedback to research system
• Refinement of technology
Economic Benefit of Technologies

Impact assessment of the technology needs to be done through
estimation of economic/marketable surplus. This could be achieved by
estimating supply and demand elasticity by finding production and
consumption data for technology and agents.
AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY FOR BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENTS

The technology for production is available for the following agents,
and could be the examples to start a public-private partnership interface, to
enable working out a strategy for building a lasting relationship.
Parasitoids
• Trichogramma spp. for different pests
• Trichogramma chilonis
- pesticide tolerant
- high host-searching ability
- high temperature tolerant
• Goniozus nephantidis for Opisina arenosella
• Telenomus remus for Spodoptera litura
Predators
• Cryptolaemus montrouzieri
• Chrysoperla carnea
• Cardiastethus exiguus
Insect Pathogens
• Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses of
- Helicoverpa armigera
- Spodoptera litura
• Fungal pathogens
- Nomuraea rileyi
- Beauveria bassiana
- Verticillium lecanii
- Metarrhizium anisopliae
Fungal and Bacterial Antagonists

• Trichoderma spp.
• Pseudomonas spp.
• Bacillus spp.
Entomopathogenic Nematodes (EPN)

• Steinernema spp.
• Heterorhabditis spp.
Nematophagous Fungi
• Paecilomyces lilacinus
• Pochonia chlamydosporia
• Arthrobotrys oligospora
Bio-pesticides
Botanical Insecticides
• Among botanicals, neem is the most commonly exploited
insecticide, available in different formulations and tested against
more than 300 species of insect pests. However, other plant
products like Pongamia, palmarosa and Acorus calamus have been
proved to possess insecticide properties, at least in crude extract
form. Through industrial partnership, identification of active
principles and technology for commercialilzation may be
attempted.
• The research efforts may be concentrated more on volatiles of
plants such as limonene, pinene, myrcene, etc. through private-
public partnership, which have potential to be used as attractants.
• IPR issues, especially for plants with insecticidal properties, must
be addressed to retain our claims on these bioresources.
Pheromones
• Almost all commercially available pheromones are produced
through technologies developed at laboratories from overseas.
There is a need to develop low-cost technologies for synthesis of
pheromones for insects like Helicoverpa armigera, Earias vitella,

Pectinophora gossypiella, Chilo spp. etc.
• Generally in India most of the private companies produce and sell
a very few pheromone products relatively in high volume at low
price, and mostly depended on the demand by state government’s
procurement. However pheromones for large number of insects
for which technologies have been identified and their utility has
been proved have not been produced by the private entrepreneurs.
• Already developed indigenous pheromone technology for insects
like Aproaerema modicella and Scirpophaga incertulas may be
commercialized by private entrepreneurs.
• With the discovery of the polymorphic Helicoverpa armigera
populations showing differential responses to pheromones, it
becomes necessary to develop blends suitable for different
populations of the pest species. Such intraspecific behavioural
responses also need to be studied in detail for other insect species.
• Combining pheromone technology with other attractants
(synomones and kairomones) for e.g. pheromone in combination
with basmati rice extracts for increased catches of Scirpophaga
incertulas need to be attempted with emphasis on identification
and synthesis of other plant-derived attractants.
• Export potential can also be tapped if pheromone technologies
identified for pests like Odoiporus longicollis are fine tuned to
capture World market.
• Capacity-building is an important component in pheromone
technology. Most of the existing agrochemical laboratories under
the ICAR and SAUs may be allowed to diversify the activities of
their laboratories to develop technologies for synthesizing
pheromones and other attractants with upgradation of equipments
and trained manpower.
• The trap designs available presently need to be reinvented with
proper technology on designs, trap numbers, dosage and their
placement, which will increase their efficiency.
EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THE PARTNERSHIP

This exercise to synthesize partnership between public and private
enterprises will become more meaningful if strategic relationship between
this partnership is made sustainable with respect to clear deliverables, results
and targets agreed upon. There is a need to have continued collaborations
to refine technologies so as to enable addressing bottlenecks and hiccups
on the continuous basis. The outcome of such a course will help research-
managers and policy-makers to prioritize researches.
11
Biocontrol Agents:
Problems and Perspectives
B. N. Vyas
The foodgrains production in the country, which was about 55 million

tonnes in the early fifties of the last century, has increased to more than
200 million tonnes at present. However, Indian Agriculture faces a serious
challenge to ensure food security for every individual in the country. As
per the present estimates, India will have to increase its foodgrains
production to 250 million tonnes by the end of 2025 to meet the
requirements of an ever-increasing population. This is further challenged in
view of the decreasing land productivity in many areas and also continued
crop losses due to various pests. The extent of losses of crops is estimated
to be nearly 30%, amounting to Rs 30,000 crore. Of these losses, weeds
account for nearly 33%, insects and rodents 26%, plant diseases 26%, and
birds and nematodes account for the remaining 15% (Table 1). Even if we
are able to reduce losses by 25%, there would be a substantial saving of
crops. Synthetic chemical pesticides have played an important role in
reducing crop losses. Although crop losses due to insect pests are only 26%
Table 1. Status of crop losses

Pest Crop loss (%)
Brown plant hopper ( Nilaparvata lugens) 10-70
Rice gall midge (Orseolia oryzae) 15-60
Rice stem borer (Scirpophaga incertullas) 25-30
Maize pink borer (Sisamia inference) 25-75
Pulse stem fly ( Ophiomyzia sp.) 50-72
Mustard aphid (Lipaphis erysmi) 30-70
Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera ) 50-60
Cotton white-fly (Bemisia tabaci) 53-80
Rao and Murthy in 1983 reported losses worth Rs 6,000 crore.
Jayaraj in 1993 reported losses worth Rs 20,000 crore.
Dhaliwal and Arora in 1996 reported losses worth Rs 29,000 crore.
Source: Sharma et al. 2000 (Agrolook, Aug. 2000)
Vice-President, M/s Godrej Agrovet. Ltd, Pirojshanagar, Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli,
Mumbai 400 079 (Maharashtra)
BIOCONTROL AGENTS: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES 53
of the total, the share of insecticides among crop-protection chemicals used

in the country is over 70%. The large scale and indiscriminate use of such
insecticides has resulted in the following environmental hazards.
(i) Development of resistance to chemicals (more than 700 species
of insects have recorded resistance).
(ii) Toxicity to vertebrate/ invertebrate life-forms (WHO reports
indicate one million people suffering from pesticide poisoning
every year).
(iii) Toxicity to natural enemies and beneficial insects like honeybees
(significant reduction in natural predators against white-fly is a
classic sample).
(iv) Long persistent residues resulting in poisoning of food-chain.
MARKET POTENTIAL OF BIOCONTROL AGENTS IN INDIA
In view of the above, biological control agents (biopesticides) offer

excellent opportunity for their use in pest-management programmes. It
would not be out of place to assume that nearly 5% of the total market
share of pesticides (Rs 3,500 crore) can easily be taken by biocontrol agents;
this would amount to Rs 175 crore per annum as against the present market
of approximately Rs 40 – 50 crore. From the date of first development till
date, the off-take of the biocontrol agents has not been on the expected
lines. Several constraints have been responsible for observed trends.
Constraints Responsible for Limited Market Growth

Different constraints responsible for limited success of biologicals can
be divided into (i) Technological, (ii) Financial, (iii) Extension related (iv)
Regulatory/ Statutory.
Technological aspects include lack of technological advancements
relating to transfer of technology from pilot-plant scale to mega scale and
lack of mass-rearing facilities; inconsistent field results; limited or very short
life, say 6 months only, and existence of very crude formulations. Despite
phenomenal growth in research and development of biologicals, the
acceptance at the farmer’s level has not been satisfactory. One of the reasons
behind this phenomenon is that many private entrepreneurs have rushed
into commercial production of biocontrol agents without creating adequate
production and quality assurance facilities.
Similarly, financial aspects can be categorized as huge rates of taxes
including excise at a par with chemical pesticides; benefits of economy of
scale rather limited and lack of subsidy from the Government of India on
the lines of fertilizers or drip irrigation etc. Some constraints related to
extension are as follows.
(i) Existence of mindset in farmers to compare results of biologicals
vis-à-vis chemical pesticides, further complicated by understanding
that chemicals vis-à-vis biologicals are complimentary or
supplementary.
(ii) Lack of field-demonstrations, distributors/ dealers training

programmes
(iii) Limited promotion through TV programmes
(iv) Hardly any celebration of success stories
(v) Many State Governments are yet to include their usage in package
of practices
(vi) Lack of awareness among farmers about all ill effects of chemical
pesticides
Regulatory / Statutory aspects also need to be considered seriously, if
biopesticides have to become a success. The major remedies that could help
the process are as follows.
(i) Creation of a separate cell for registering biologicals
(ii) Liberalize expensive and time-taking registration process
(iii) Strict quality control and standardized formulations
(iv) Large number of nodal biopesticide testing laboratories
Future Outlook for Biocontrol Agents in Pest Management

(i) Current growth rate of biocontrol agents market is close to 5%
with an annual sales turnover close to Rs 50 crore (approximately
1.5% of the total pesticides market). World biopesticide market
is recorded to be about Rs 2,000 crore (US$ 400 million)
(ii) Growth rate of 15% in next 10 years can easily result in turnover
of Rs 200 crore which would be close to 5% of the pesticides
market share.
(iii) Bt and neem pesticides are major biocontrol agents used in India.
The area covered with these plant-protection products is 0.1% of
the net cultivable area. A ten-fold increase in area i.e. of cultivable
land would raise turnover close to Rs 400 crore per annum.
(iv) World demand for biocontrol agents is projected to be at US$ 6
billion in the next 5 years. North America and western Europe
will be the largest market, both accounting for 2/ 3 of the total
demand.
It is obvious from the foregoing paras that in case we have to realise
full potential of the biocontrol agents and at the same time ensure safety to
our crops and environs, it would be necessary for all stakeholders to
minimize above-mentioned constraints which would maximize use.
12
Agro-biochemicals in Agriculture
C. Devakumar1 and Rajesh Kumar2
The term ‘agro-biochemicals’ includes all chemical-inputs in

agriculture such as pesticides, fertilizers, plant hormones, plant-growth
regulators etc.
India is among the largest agricultural societies in the world.
Agricultural production has recorded remarkable growth over the past few
decades. Though high-yielding varieties have contributed significantly
towards improving production, these are highly responsive to inputs, and
their intensive use has increased demand for irrigation, pesticides and
fertilizers. However, the very agro-inputs, responsible for increasing
agricultural production, are slowly showing signs of threats to environment,
and health and socio-economic well-being of the community. Besides,
monoculture and continuous cultivation of improved varieties, overlapping
of cropping seasons, and excessive application of agro-chemicals have resulted
in high incidences of pests and diseases in many parts of the country. It is
now globally agreed that agricultural production can profitably be matched
with growing demands of the population in terms of quality and quantity in
a sustainable manner through effective public-private partnership (PPP).
CROP PROTECTION SCENARIO

Management of abiotic stresses in an ecologically sustainable manner
will be one of the key determining factors in crop production that will
become more knowledge-driven in the coming years. The pre-harvest losses
due to pests are estimated at 42 % and post-harvest losses at 10% (Fig. 1).
Many innocuous pests of the previous decades have attained the status
of serious pests in the recent years. In addition, problems of pest outbreaks,
resistance and resurgence of insect pests demand more pesticides. The
frequent crop losses, increased expenditure on agro-inputs, high debts, and
fluctuations in market prices have put farming communities in deep
economic and psychological distress.
Synthetic pesticides have become an inevitable input, and their
consumption in India has not been uniform, which varies with cropping
1
Principal Scientist, 2Scientist (SS), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi
110 012
Fig. 1. Estimated yield losses due to pests
pattern, intensity of pests and diseases and agro-ecological regions.

Pesticides use is particularly high in regions with good irrigation facilities
and also in those areas where commercial crops are grown. An analysis of
the pesticides-use pattern in the country has revealed that cotton, which
accounts for just 5% of the cropped area, consumes about 52 to 55% of
the pesticides. Rice grown over 24% of area uses about 18%, vegetables
raised over 3% area, about 14%, plantation crops covering 2% of area, 8%,
and cereals, millets and oilseeds extending over 58% of the area, 7%.
Sugarcane uses 2% of pesticides and other crops grown over 6% of the
cropped area account for another 2%. The unit area consumption of
pesticides in the country is far lower than that in some of the developed
countries. The use of chemical control cannot be dispensed with even in
IPM, and is bound to increase in synchrony with the increased production.
PPP OPPORTUNITIES IN PESTICIDES
India produces pesticides valued Rs 41 billion, including that meant

for exports worth Rs 25 billion, but the pesticides consumption in Indian
agriculture is as low 288 g a.i. per hectare. India spends in dollar term US$3
per ha as compared to China which spends US$6 per ha. If the agricultural
growth is set at 7-10% per annum in value terms, this will result in
agrochemical sector growth of at least 10-12% per annum in value terms
driven by higher usage of pesticides both at pre- and post-harvest stages.
An explosive boom in consumer goods sector and with increasing affluent
middle-class, demand for quality and processed foods is expected to
increase. The Indian pesticides industries lobby through three associations
(Table 1). The major industries have shown willingness in partnership with
the ICAR institutions. In recently concluded NATP, Crop Life India
partnered with the NCIPM in the validation of IPM of certain crops.
AGRO-BIOCHEMICALS IN AGRICULTURE 57
Table 1. Indian pesticides industries

Sl No. Industry Name Strength
1. Crop Care Federation of India 70 members
2. Crop Life India 12 MNC-members
3. Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators
Association of India (PMFAI) 250 members
In the last decade, after scientometric analysis of the pesticides research

conducted in India and in the developed world, the following are the
conclusions.
1. Indian research is found dominated by adaptive research in terms
of efficacy and environment-friendliness acceptability of pesticides
developed elsewhere.
2. On the other hand, research in the developed world reflects
importance of development of new molecules, novel approaches
of pesticide management etc.
If one looks at the global scenario of pesticides use in 2004, top 10
agrochemical companies controlled 72% global sales revenues, amounting
to US$30 billion. These companies had spent US$2.25 billion or 7.5% of
sales in R & D, and they outsourced studies worth US$260.7 million (Table 2).
Table 2. Agrochemicals R&D expenditure on external studies
Sector Value (US$million)
Biology 100.4
Chemistry 63.0
Environmental risk assessment 57.3
Total 260.7
With increased liberalization, the NARS can have a greater role in

public-private partnership (PPP). The kind of external studies that can be
undertaken by the ICAR scientists are given in Table 3.
Table 3. Studies outsourced by the MNCs
External expenditure Includes costs for activities outsourced to carry out through
joint ventures, alliances and research agreements with third
parties
Synthesis Laboratory-based synthesis, including combinatorial
chemistry based methods, of new candidate products,
analogues, metabolites and radiolabelled products
Sample and compound The storage, retrieval and archiving of chemical libraries for
logistics the purpose of discovery
Chemistry – other Miscellaneous chemistry-based activities, such as computer
modelling, structure-activity relationships (target-site), etc
Field biology Includes field efficacy work, but excludes field demonstration
trials done for commercial purposes
Laboratory biology Includes high-throughput screening, genomics (for product
discovery), molecular biology, combinatorial chemistry,
biochemistry, profiling, etc.
Environmental risk Includes plant metabolism, soil metabolism, environmental
assessment – other fate, environmental modelling, water monitoring
The Division of Agricultural Chemicals at the Indian Agricultural

Research Institute, has expertise to undertake synthesis of new molecules
and metabolites, degradation and metabolism, computer modelling and
quantitative structure-activity relationship. And field efficacy evaluations of
new chemicals are now routinely undertaken by many SAUs. The ICAR
may create an advanced centre under the Division of Agricultural Chemicals,
in High-throughput screening (HTS), genomics for product discovery,
combinatorial chemistry, biochemistry and gene expression profiling.
Similarly a few centres under the NARS can be identified to undertake
environment risk assessment. Thus, PPP with MNCs will open-up
additionally revenue generation worth US$50-250 million annually. Such
an arrangement would strengthen on-going R & D efforts in bioprospecting
of new active molecules from natural sources and by bio-rational synthesis
also.
The committee on the Future Role of Pesticides in US Agriculture
has predicted that the novel chemical products that will dominate in near
future would most likely have a very different genesis from traditional
synthetic organic insecticides; the number and diversity of biological sources
will increase, and products that originate in chemistry laboratories will be
designed with particular target sites or modes of actions in mind.
Innovations in pesticide-delivery systems (notably, in plants) promise to
reduce adverse environmental impacts even further but are not expected to
eliminate them. There remains a need for new chemicals that are compatible
with ecologically-based pest management and applicator and worker safety.
It has exhorted the authorities to:
• Make research investments and policy changes that emphasize
development of pesticides and application technologies that pose
reduced health risks, and are compatible with ecologically-based
pest management.
• Promote scientific and social initiatives to make development and
use of alternatives to pesticides more competitive in a wide variety
of managed and natural ecosystems.
• Increase ability and motivation of agricultural workers to lessen
their exposure to potentially harmful chemicals and refine worker-
protection regulations and enforce compliance with them.
• Reduce adverse off-target effects by judicious choice of chemical
agents, implementation of precision application technology and
determination of economic- and environmental-impact thresholds
for pesticide use in more agricultural systems.
• Reduce overall environmental impact of agricultural enterprise.
According to the committee, the most promising opportunity for
increasing benefits and reducing risks is to invest time, money and effort
into developing a diverse toolbox of pest-management strategies that
include safe products and practices that integrate chemical approaches into
an overall, ecologically-based framework to optimize sustainable
production, environmental quality and human health. Research topics that
should be targeted by the public sector include: (i) Minor-use crops, (ii)
Pest biology and ecology, (iii) Integration of several pest-management tools
in managed and natural ecosystems, (iv) Targeted applications of pesticides,
(v) Risk perception and risk assessment of pesticides and their alternatives,
(vi) Economic and social impacts of pesticide use.
Investment in basic research applicable to ecologically-based pest
management must, according to this committee, aim at the following.
• Obtaining ecological and evolutionary biological information
necessary for design and implementation of specific pest-
management systems.
• Identifying ways to enhance competitiveness of alternatives or
adjuncts by investing in studies of cultural and biological control.
• Elucidating fundamental pest biochemistry, physiology, ecology,
genomics, and genetics to generate information that can lead to
novel pest-control approaches.
• Examining residue management, environmental fate (biological,
physical, and chemical) and application technology to monitor
and reduce environmental damage and adverse health effects of
both pesticides and pesticide alternatives.
• Basic research on public perceptions and on risk assessment and
analysis would be useful in promoting widespread acceptance and
adoption of ecologically-based management approaches.
Future Role of Pesticides in US Agriculture (2000)—Recommendations

1. There is no justification for abandoning chemicals per se as components in
defensive toolbox used for managing pests. The committee recommends
maintaining a diversity of tools for maximizing flexibility, precision and stability of
pest management.
2. A concerted effort in research and policy should be made to increase
competitiveness of alternatives to chemical pesticides; this effort is a necessary
prerequisite for diversifying pest-management “toolbox” in an era of rapid
economic and ecological change.
3. Investments in research by the public sector should emphasize those areas of
pest management that are not now being (and historically have never been)
undertaken by private industry.
4. Government policies should be adapted to foster innovation and reward risk
reduction in private industry and agriculture. The public sector has a unique role
to play in supporting research on minor use cropping systems, where inadequate
availability of appropriate chemicals and lack of environmentally and
economically acceptable alternatives to synthetic chemicals contribute
disproportionately to concerns about chemical impacts.
5. The public sector must act on its responsibility to provide quality education to
ensure well-informed decision-making in private and public sectors.
PPP OPPORTUNITIES IN PLANT NUTRIENTS
The demand for plant nutrients is bound to increase. With an

estimated population of 1.4 billion by 2025 and minimum calories
requirement of food, the country will need to produce at least 300 million
tonnes of foodgrains, and this would require use of 30-35 million tonnes
Scope and Opportunities for PPP in Plant Protection

• Better pesticide formulations suiting to varied agroclimatic regions and cropping
pattern
• Data generation on efficacy and safety of new molecules / formulations, analytical
and bioassay services
• Improved pesticides delivery
• Development of biocontrol agents, biofertilizers, value-added fertilizers, phyto-
tonics etc.
of NPK from various sources. High-value crops such as horticulture,

vegetables, plantation crops, sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds and potato, which
also have high export potential and also claim high fertilizer use on priority
basis; will need another 14-15 million tonnes of NPK. Thus, from both
inorganic and organic sources the country will be required to arrange for
40-45 million tonnes of nutrients by 2025 from consumption of 18.07
million tonnes in 1999-2000. The projected requirements of Zn, Cu, Fe
and Mn for 2025 following sufficiency approach are 323,777, 2,727,
32,571 and 5,591 tonnes/annum and in terms of zinc sulfate heptahydrate,
copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate and manganese sulfate will be 15,417,952,
11,363, 171,426 and 18,331 tonnes. Nearly two-thirds of the total zinc
sulphate is consumed in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Presently, the
production stands at 75,000-80,000 tonnes against installed capacity of
170,000 tonnes. These figures show poor performance of industry, and
adequate supplies of zinc sulphate are not available. If we have to succeed
in meeting projected requirements of zinc by 2025, urgent steps would be
required to put industry on sound footing.
Involvement of public sector like the ICAR in development of value-
added plant nutrients would ensure better quality of products. The ICAR
has the requisite expertise in agricultural sector, and the industry has the
better marketing network. A synergy between the two would usher in
symbiotic growth leading to win-win situation. The IARI technology of
neem oil coated urea (NOCU) has been enthusiastically picked up by a few
fertilizer industries. Data generated by one fertilizer industry on the use of
neem oil coated urea (NOCU) in rice amply demonstrate the utilization
potential of first-ever indigenously developed product (Table 4). Production
of NOCU involves a meagre cost of Rs 80-100 per tonne, but can save
fossil fuel, labour and energy worth 100 times. The nitrogen-use efficiency
(NUE) is abysmally low pegged at 35-40% in Indian agriculture. Taking
into consideration of the current use, even 5% increase in NUE can lead to
saving of about 8-10 billion rupees.
Table 4. Relative efficiency of NOCU for rice (kharif 2002-03) trials on farmers’ fields
Paddy grain yield
Districts No. of trials Urea NOCU Increase(%) CD 5% CV%
tonnes/ha
5 45 3.95 4.59 16.2 1.9 3.96
Fig. 2. Roadmap for registration data generation for pesticides
Fig. 3. Roadmap of PPP in pesticides R & D
Fig. 4. Roadmap for PPP in value-added and custom-designed fertilizers

Unbalanced fertilizer usage is on the rise, and thus has led to low and
declining crop yield responses. Continuing imbalanced use of N, P, K
fertilizers (which was 8.5:3.1:1 in 1998-99 as against the desirable norm
of 4:2:1) and increasing deficiency of micronutrients are major concerns.
The rational use of fertilizers and manures for optimum supply of all
essential nutrients for agricultural production simultaneously ensures
efficiency of fertilizer use, promotes synergistic interactions and keeps
antagonistic interactions out of crop production system. Balanced
fertilization enhances crop yield, crop quality and farm profits; corrects
inherent soil nutrient deficiencies; maintains or improves lasting soil
fertility; avoids damage to environment and restores fertility and
productivity of land that has been degraded by wrong and exploitative
activities in the past. Widespread deficiencies of key micronutrients like Zn,
B, Mo have been documented. Value-added fertilizers like zinc coated urea
and sulphur coated urea have enormous market. Similarly phytohormones
acting enzymes, amino acids as foliar supplements can be developed in
small-scale sector.
Similar opportunities exist in R & D of botanical and biopesticides.
In terms of value-addition of agricultural produce, the NARS can contribute
to the development of biofuels, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals also. The
Division of Agricultural Chemicals has over 30 products and improved
processes available for commercialization.
Possible roadmaps for forging PPP in these areas are shown in figures
2-4. A consorted approach in a mission-mode would benefit for flagging
of PPP in agro-biochemicals for maximizing returns in a sustainable manner.
13
Vaccines in Livestock Development
S.N. Singh
India has the largest livestock population in terms of 219

million cattle, 94 million buffaloes, 123 million goats, 50 million sheep, 16
million pigs and 750 million poultry. Public-private partnership is necessary
to ensure Information Technology and Business Transformation (ITBT)
merging to create Rural Knowledge Bio resource Centre in each Panchayat for
providing active involvement of health-care Service Industry.
Unlike the western markets, which have very strong farm practices and
where farming is conducted like an industry, the Indian scenario is very
different. Farming in India is very much a cottage, household activity. The
farm-holdings invariably are small, with a few exceptions, with major
dependence on grazing and with a little effective health-care. Veterinary
health-care is largely institution-driven in India with almost 90% of the
facilities provided by the state. The concept of health insurance is yet to
catch up in reality to become a practice. As the result, the farmers have to
fend for themselves at very low levels; with most of the money spent on
health and nutrition of livestock.
Due to low-income level of the marginal cattle farmers, the
affordability becomes a major issue; very much like the mainline
pharmaceutical industry, thanks to the absence of product patents and
encouragement given to mushrooming small sector. The animal health
market is thus highly fragmented with intense competition among
companies with “me-too” products.
DRIVERS OF GROWTH
India represents one of the most promising animal-health markets in
the world; that is because of its current sub-optimal state and given the fact
that rural incomes can be bettered in India with the thrust on the dairy and
poultry sectors. In fact, dairying with a base in the large cattle population
of around 300 million and the vibrant poultry industry have helped animal
husbandry contribute nearly 10% to the country’s GDP. Apart from this,
there is also realization that if India has to have sufficient export-led growth,
more so from the farm sector, then there has to be a higher thrust on the
health and nutrition in the animal health industry.
Managing Director, M/s Biovet, 5A, Wireless Colony, Aundh, Pune 411 007 (Maharashtra)
Competitive Industries in Animal Health

The major player in the industry, Glaxo (Agrivet Farm care), accounts for 9.5% of
the market, credit goes to its strong presence in the poultry and cattle segments.
This is followed by Zydus Sarabhai with 9% market share, Intervet and Pfizer with
8% and 6.7% market shares respectively, occupying third and fourth ranks. The top
ten companies account for 63% of the market. Competition is intense not by the
number of companies in the market, but more so due to the fact that most of these
companies have competing “me-too” products. The two major FMD vaccine
manufacturing companies, M/s Indian Immunologicals Limited and m/s Intervet rank
among the first five companies in the industry.
The size of the Indian animal health market was estimated at US$ 230
million (Rs 1,000 crore) in 2004-05, growing at a compounded annual
growth rate of 5%; the cattle segment accounting for 51%, followed by
poultry segment 40%, sheep/goats 4%, and the canines segment
contributing to 3% of the total turnover.
The major therapeutic segments of the animal health market and their
contribution are as follows.
Anti-infectives, 28%; Biologicals, 17%; Tonics, 15%; Anthelmintics,
10%; Feed additives, 10%; NSAID, 3%; Ectoparasiticides, 4%; Infusions,
4%; Antirotozoals, 3%; Antiseptics, 2%; Steroids, 2%; Hormones, 2%.
The existing competition, scope and growth prospectus of the major
therapeutic segments can be outlined as follows.
Anti-infectives: They constitute the biggest segment (28%) of the
Indian Animal Health Industry. Poor level of farm hygiene and sanitary
conditions coupled with traditional husbandry practices among the farmers
across the country usually result in a number of diseases among their
livestock due to high bacterial count. The therapeutic use of anit-infectives,
therefore, is widespread in all sectors — Cattle, Poultry, Sheep and Goats–
among farmers.
The anti-infectives’ market in cattle and sheep/goat segment is
dominated by the use of steptopencillins and tetracyclines. Pfizer’s
Terramycin (Oxytetracycline) and Zydus Sarabhai’s DCR (Dicrystacin) are
the leading brands in this segment, followed by Moxel
(Amosycillin+Cloxacillin) from Alembic. The use of 3rd and 4th generation
cephalosporins is not yet widespread, and is limited to treating specific
infections like mastitis, etc. Quinolones-Enrofloxacin and P-Floxacin are the
most popular antibiotics being used in poultry sector. Enrocin-a brand from
M/s Ranbaxy, continues to be the brand leader in poultry segment.
Indiscriminate and continued usage of tetracyclines and
streptopencillins at the farmer’s level for the last two decades, however, has
led to the development of resistance to most of these antibiotics. The
existing scenario offers a good opportunity and scientific rationale for one
to come out with a new generation broad-spectrum injectable antibiotic for
use in cattle. Marbofloxacin (aquinolone) and cefquinome (a 4th generation
cephalosporins) can be the best alternatives fitting into current
VACCINES IN LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT 65
requirements. Similarly for the fast growing canine segment, a combination

of Amoxicillin+Clavvulanic acid can be an antibiotic of choice.
The Indian Annual Health (AH) Market is essentially a dairy-oriented
market since beef and pork do not find much acceptance in the society due
to socio-religious issues. India has the largest cattle population in the world
of 219 million. However the main focus in cattle rearing continues to be
getting more productivity from animals in the form of milk. Mastitis in
milch animals continues to be one of the major diseases of livestock. There
is a very good market and scope for coming out with a novel combination
of anti-mastitis infusions for treatment of mastitis in dairy cattle.
A combination of Cefaperazone Sod + Procaine Pencillin G + Predrusolone
can be a good alternative. As per our information the anit-infective
market will continue to grow at an average annual compounded growth rate
of 5%.
Biologicals: Biologicals contributed 17% to the total revenue of the
AH Industry during 2003-04. In fact, the biological segment has witnessed
the fastest growth during the last one decade. The contribution of poultry
sector continues at 53% in terms of volume, followed by cattle at 37%,
canines at 7% and sheep and goats sector at 3%. In cattle segment, the
FMD vaccine continues to be the biggest revenue earner with a contribution
of 32% (Rs 51 crore). The introduction and implementation of FMD-
Disease Free Zones concept in the country and continued support to the
states under ASCAD programme by the Central Government have helped
expanding this market tangentially. With increased competition and
awareness at the farmer’s level during the last few years there has been
virtually a paradigm shift. More and more number of farmers/cattle owners
now are switching over to the adoption of prophylactic measures for
prevention of diseases in their livestock. There has been increased emphasis
on preventive health-care than going for curative treatment.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, had earmarked a
sum of Rs 1,000 crore for creation of FMD disease free zones during the
tenth five year plan (2002-03 to 2007-08). Out of this, the vaccine
component is expected to be Rs 600 crore over the five-year period (200
million doses per annum at Rs 6 per dose).
Put together all the three manufacturers M/s IIL-45 Mio, Intervet-20
Nio and IVRI-2 Mio, the country can produce a maximum of 67 million
doses against the annual requirement of 200 million doses. A new
manufacturer on the horizon- B.V. Biologicals (Venkateshwara Hatcheries)
is planning 40 million doses capacity. This means that once the FMD-
Disease Free Zones programme becomes fully operational, there will be
excellent opportunity and scope to participate in this market.
There has been an increased thrust by the Government on exports
sector by way of livestock exports to Middle East, Gulf and SAARC
countries. As a signatory to WTO agreement, there is increased onus that
all the livestock to be exported should be free from diseases like FMD,
Brucellosis, IBR etc. The market for FMDV, HSBQ, Brucellosis, IBR, Anti
Tick Vaccine in cattle and PPR, ET, Multi component Vaccine for sheep/
goats holds a tremendous business potential for a very promising future.
Anti-parasitics: The anti-parasitics constitute the second biggest
therapeutic segment with 17% contribution to the total turnover of Indian
Animal Health Industry. The anti-parasitics can be further classified into
three main groups as: (a) Anthelmintics- 10% MS, (b) Ectoparasiticides-
4% MS (c) Anti-protozoals- 3% MS. The existing size of the anti-parasitic
market is about Rs 161.5 crore, and this market is estimated to be growing
at a healthy rate of 10-12% per annum.
Anthelmintics: Regular use of anthelmintics for deworming their flocks
is quite popular among nomadic population of shepherds across the country.
The sheep/goat segment accounts for around 28% of the anthelmintic market
whereas cattle segment contributes about 70% of the total anthelmintic
market.Benzimidazoles/Fenbendazole/Mebendazole/Tricla-bendazole,
Immidothiazoles Tetramisole/Levamisole and Pyrantel, Pamoate are the most
popular anthelmintic salts being marketed by many companies. However
Panacur (Fenbendazole) by Intervet, Banminth (Morantel) by Pfizer and
Albomar- (Albendazole) by Glaxo continue to occupy leadership position of
preferences. For controlling fasciolosis, the salicylanides (Oxyclozanide) are
the most preferred formulations. Nilzan (Tetramisole+Oxyclozanide) by
Glaxo and Tolzan (Oxyclozanide) by Intervet and Fascinex (Triclabendazole)
by Novartis are the most popular brands.
Ectoparasiticides: The Indian ectoparasiticides market has grown
phenomenally during the last one decade. The market has evolved from the
use of chlorinated hydrocarbons to organo phosphorus compounds to
pyrethroids and formamidines (Amitraz). At present the market is
dominated by synthetic parathyroid formulations like Deltamethrin,
Cypermethrin and Flumethrin etc. However Butox (deltamethrin) from
Intervet with about 33% market share is undoubtedly the market leader in
this segment. The use of lvermectins is quite popular and growing up in
canine segment.
The temperate climate of the country, uncontrolled grazing pastures,
poor farm hygiene and sanitary conditions will continue to pose a big
challenge and a menacing threat of ecto and endoparasites to the livestock.
Moreover it has been observed that due to indiscriminate and excessive use
of ectoparasiticides at farmer’s level has lead to resistance development to
these molecules. The ectoparasiticides market today is cluttered with a
number of me-too packs.
To tap potential of this fast growing market, it will be quite innovative
to come out with a vaccine for control of ticks. Such a vaccine if launched
successfully can be a real money-spinner besides attaining leadership
position in the Indian ectoparasiticide market.
Similarly coming out with a formulation like (Fenbendazole + Urea
Molasses)- mineral bricks can be a very good dewormer for dairy cattle.
Anti-protozoals: With increasing crossbred population of cattle across
the country has always been under constant threat from the protozoal diseases
VACCINES IN LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT 67
like Babesiosis, Theleriosis and Trypanosomiasis. Beranil (diminazene

diaceturate) from Intervet is the drug of choice and a brand leader for treating
Babesiosis in cattle. However for treating Theleriosis there are not much
alternatives/and the drug of choice continues to be Butalex (an original
research product of Pitman Moore-UK); being marketed by Zydus Sarabhai.
The camel population in the country is expected to be around 1.1 million.
However for treating the most frequently occurring Surra (Trypanosome
evansi) infections in camels, hardly there are alternative drugs available which
can be rated very effective. As we foresee, there is a good opportunity to
participate in this market, since the market is growing, and there is not much
competition at present. If introduced successfully a drug like
“Isometamedium Chloride” can be the drug of choice for treating
Trypanosomiasis infection in animals. Similarly the combination of
Diminazene diaceturate + Vit-B 12 can be a good product for anti-Babesiosis
market.
Tonics: The tonics segment comprises allopathic as well as ayurvedic/

herbal preparations, which are used regularly in cattle and poultry segments.
The tonics market is dominated by the presence of ayurvedic rumenotoric
preparations like Himalayan Batisa in cattle segment and Liv-52 like herbal
formulations in poultry sector. There are a number of injectable liver extract
preparations available in the market which are being used as the supportive
therapy. Similarly injectable organic phosphorus preparations like
Tonophosphan/Tonoricin are quite popular for supplementing phosphorus
deficiency in animals as the supportive therapy. The market for tonics is quite
attractive, and there is a good scope for a novel combination like (Toldimphos
Sod + Vit-B12) to be positioned in this market for use in dairy cattle.
Similarly in rumenotorics category too, there is ample scope for a unique
combination (Vit B complex + Choline Chloride + Cobalt + potassium +
Sodium chloride) as a rumen stabilizer. The tonics market segment is
estimated to be growing at a rate of 8-10%.
Hormones: One of the major reasons of infertility in dairy cattle,

besides nutritional deficiency, is found due to hormonal imbalances. Though
the present size of the market is only about 2% (Rs 19 crore) of the total AH
Market but the biochemical nature of the products/hormones and their
scientific way of promotion makes this segment a special product category
to be associated with companies who have a good knowledge base. This
helps in improving the image of the company in the market place. The efficacy
and utility of GnRH analogues and PGF2 alpha (Prostaglandin’s) in day-to-
day regular urge animal practice particularly in cattle and equines have been
established beyond doubt. There is not much competition in this segment
excepting of a few MNC players. The market is sound to expand and there
is a good scope to come out with GnRH analogues and Prosuglandin’s.
Similarly coming out with estradiol for regularing heat/oestrous in bitches
can be a novel introduction besides becoming a blockbuster in hormonal
preparations.
For a new start-up biological company in animal health business, we
would recommend some of the corporate strategies as follows. We are
confident that these will help secure a bright future for the enterprise on a
sustainable basis.
CORPORATE STRATEGIES
Broad product range: It is obvious that a wide product range will
create depth in the product offering and help capture significant share of
the overall market. FMD, Brucellosis, IBR, Calf Scour, Sheep Pox, PPR,
ET and Blue Tongue are some of the proposed vaccine candidates which
can offer a very promising future for any start-up new biological company.
Produce low cost: Vaccine business is generally seen as a tender
driven business. Such tender driven business may place high emphasis on
price rather than quality, and we must be prepared to continuously drive
costs down.
Build strong technology and create entry barriers: At present, there
are only three established players in the market manufacturing biologicals.
However to be among the top players calls for significant technology
capabilities and a dedicated team of professionals who have thorough
understanding of biologicals business. Since it is only the advanced
technology that can help us achieve both–cost leadership and developing
differentiated products. To create entry barriers, it is proposed to develop
various products through recombinant DNA technology such as DNA
vaccines for rabies, FMD, Brucella, Tick vaccine and White Spot Disease
Vaccine etc. Similarly monoclonal antibodies can be developed for a field
test for diagnosis of FMD virus sero-types after an infection.
Techno-commercial backup as a differentiating tool: Having a
strong techno-commercial back-up for any biological company, aiming for
leadership position, has come to be identified as the key to success.
Technical services and support provided to farmers/cattle owners at the field
level can give us much-needed platform to differentiate our services from
competitors.
Get global: To be a leading player, it is obvious that not only the
Indian domestic market, but also other regions of the world have to be our
markets as well. Export to the SAARC, Middle East and CIS countries for
FMD and other cattle biologicals offer a very good business potential. We
need to have a strong presence in most of the international markets.
14
Indian Poultry Industry Perspective
O.P. Singh
Global Scenario
Globally, chicken meat and egg industry has been characterized with
the fastest consumption and trade growth among all the major agricultural
commodities during the last 2 decades. The trend may continue in the next
decade also due to: (i) Growing disposable income, (ii) Urbanization, (iii)
Increasing Market Access to poultry products, (iv) Improved awareness
about chicken and egg products
Indian Scenario
India is No. 2 in egg production, No. 5 in meat production, and is
most competitive in production among 150 poultry-producing nations
(Table 1)
Table 1. Competitive ranking of Indian poulty industry
Country Cost rank Margin rank Egg pr. rank Sum ICR*
India 1 4 2 7 1st
USA 4 32 5 41 4th
China 15 38 8 61 15th
Japan 44 13 41 98 44th
*ICR means “International Competitive Ranking”
Source: FAO, Fairhurst et al.
The poultry sector provides employment to more than 2 million families;

most of them are from small rural entrepreneurs. It is the highest contributor
to the growth of agri-economy and is expected to double in the next 6 years.
Besides it will have additional employment for 1.6 million people (Table 2)
Table 2. Growth potential of Indian poultry industry

Expected growth (next 5 years)
Overall GDP 7%
Agriculture sector 4%
Poultry industry 12%
Layers 10%
Broilers 15%
Chief Executive Officer, M/s Venkateshwara Pvt. Ltd, Unit No. 3/303, 3rd Floor,
Sharada Centre, 11/1, Erandwane, Pune 411 004 (Maharashtra)
Future Projection
Table 3. Vision 2020 for the Indian poultry industry
Segment/ Parameter Year 2005 Year 2010 Year 2020
Breeders 11 mil. 18 mil. 30 mil.
No. of broilers 1,440 mil. 2,400 mil. 3,900 mil.
Broiler meat (tonnes) 2.5 4.0 7.6
Layers 140 mil. 230 mil. 350 mil.
Employment 2.0 mil. 2.8 mil. 3.7 mil.
Source: All India Poultry Breeders Association, Industry Sources
Overall Development
It has been envisaged that public-private interactions and academia-
industry interventions are inevitable for effective technical and sectoral
development.
INDUSTRY FOCUS – ACADEMIA SUPPORT

• Research and training on meat science needs to be strengthened
at the university level with practical approach.
• Research on “Value-addition” of poultry products needs to be
based on consumer need and market competitiveness.
• Poultry science should be introduced as the graduate-level
programme.
• Nutrition and food ingredients bio-availability need to be taught in
educational institutes.
• Education about food safety among academia and students is a must.
• Special emphasis is needed on teaching practical animal nutrition
in academia during Veterinary Graduation programme.
• Curriculum on bio-security and quarantine needs to be
strengthened.
• Well researched sound ethics on international trade are to be
installed.
INDIAN POULTRY INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE 71
INDUSTRY FOCUS – PUBLIC RESEARCH SUPPORT

• Rapid and economical lab/field-based disease diagnostics/kits
• Development of molecular probes for food pathogens and food
intoxicants for finding adulteration and for food safety;
eliminating contamination ensuring food safety
• New generation vaccines, thermo-stable vaccines and bio-
therapeutics
• Bio-security and rodent control programme – uniform and
applicable at the farm level
• Development of non-conventional source of feed materials as
viable option for animal nutrition
• Research on development and usage of probiotics and prebiotics
in the Indian context
• Research on bio-safety, quarantine and bio-security for
transboundary trade and movement
• Research on food safety and public health studies
• Farm waste management
- Litter management – for energy and biofertilizers
- Feather and butcher-shop waste management
- Processing plant offal management
• Water management
- Hardness
- pH
- Mineral impurities
- Microbial contamination
• Food market reform
- Standardization of channels
- SOPs for all levels of production and marketing
- Making better and wider availability of animal products
hygienically
• Development and maintenance of cold chain infrastructure for
distribution of processed food
• Ensure easy access to all vital facilities
- inputs,
- credit and
- marketing
• Help in minimizing cost of essential inputs for growth of industry
- Essential amino acids production
- Vitamins production and excise duty
- Improving quality and productivity of soya and maize
- Prebiotics and Probiotics production
INDUSTRY FOCUS – PUBLIC SECTOR PARTICIPATION
• Evolving and formulating “National Poultry Development
Plan” (NPDP)
– Involving Industry–Academia – Regulatory System /Government
– Research Institutes
– Lay down guidelines and support aimed at bringing national

governance and poultry health legislation inline with the
international standards
“National Poultry Development Plan” (NPDP). The NPDP has follow-

ing responsibilities.
• Identifying strategies and processes that should create public-
private partnership
• Preparation of emergency plan and systems for early detection,
rapid response and surveillance for priority diseases
• Will help in improving consumption of animal protein as human
diet
• To standardize production, distribution and marketing with SOPs
• Supervise and inspect different channels for health and hygiene
point of view for end-consumers
• To make standard test procedures for diagnosis of different
diseases and raw material analysis
• To certify products, processes, farms and channels
• To make national disease surveillance and have database
management
• To promote participation of different stakeholders in disease
control and consumer health awareness
• To make uniform standards for national bio-security and
sanitation programmes
• To certify products free from specific diseases like Salmonella etc.
• To help in making policy for animal and animal trade across the
border
• Developing a more efficient use of land-energy and resources in
INDIAN POULTRY INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE 73
poultry production through establishment of superior “Industrial

ecologies”
• To make standard bio-security and sanitation procedures like
- Flock sanitation
- Hatching egg sanitation
- Hatchery sanitation
- General farm cleaning and disinfection
• Planning and developing strategies for future change in poultry
agriculture and natural resources
• Creating sustainable basis of poultry production
• Strengthening competitiveness of poultry produce and ensuring
strong domestic and global food supplies
15
Biologicals in Animal Husbandry
M.P. Yadav
The human endeavour to fight diseases has a long history. The initial
scientific application of biological products was established by Jenner’s work
on the effectiveness of cowpox in immunization of human-beings against
smallpox. The science of immunology and evolution of biological products
then remained dormant for about a century, but thereafter microbiologists
started probing into various microbes fatal to man and animals. The last
decade of the 19th century proved to be the golden era of bacteriology and
immunology. During this period appeared the classic works of Pasteur on
anthrax, fowl cholera and rabies; Salmon and Smith on swine paratyphoid;
Koch on tuberculosis; Behring and Kitasato on diphtheria antitoxins;
Ehrlich’s exposition on the principles of immunity and of Metchnikoffs on
the immunological studies. These studies opened up a new lease of life to
the suffering humanity and animals.
Definition of biologicals: By definition, biologicals are vaccines,
cultures and other preparations made from living organisms and their
products, intended for use in diagnosing, immunizing or treating humans
or animals, or in related research (www.nsc.org/ehc/glossary.htm).
Biologicals have also been defined as products derived from living organisms
that detect, stimulate or enhance an animal’s immunity to infection
(www.ahi.org/resources/glossary.asp). The first definition covers all
components of biologicals, and the second deals only with detection,
stimulation and enhancement of immunity with no mention of diagnosis
(or diagnostic reagents) and use of biologicals in research.
The advent of recombinant DNA (rDNA) and associated technologies
have enabled development of (i) synthetic peptides, (ii) recombinant
proteins expressed in heterologous expression systems, (iii) synthetic RNA
molecules as drugs in antiviral therapy and, (iv) vectored vaccines. These
products are not directly derived from animals or their products but have
tremendous potential in animal husbandry and medical field. Such
biologicals make an exception to both the above definitions.
R&D ON BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS IN INDIA
The research work on the development of biological products in India
Vice-Chancellor, Sardar Ballabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut

250 110 (Uttar Pradesh)
BIOLOGICALS IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 75
was taken up at the Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory, established at Pune

in 1889 by Government of India, for systemic study on rinderpest, anthrax
and surra (trypanosomiasis), which caused enormous losses to farming
community. The functions of the laboratory originally were to investigate
diseases of domesticated animals in all provinces of India and to ascertain,
as far as possible, by biological research in the laboratory and when
necessary, at the places of outbreak, the means for preventing and curing
such diseases. After two years, it was realized that the climatic conditions
at Pune were not quiet suitable for carrying out finer operations of
biological research and eventually the laboratory was shifted to Mukteswar
at the foothills of Himalayas in 1893. In 1901, a branch laboratory was
built at Kargaina about 4 km from Bareilly, and subsequently moved to
Izatnagar in 1913, better known as Imperial Veterinary Serum Institute,
Izatnagar, which eventually became the Biological Products Division of the
Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), and the main biological
production unit of the country.
PRODUCTION OF BIOLOGICALS IN INDIA

In India, production of veterinary biologicals was started in 1898 at
the IVRI, Izatnagar. The major activity of the institute in the early 20th
century was production of various antisera against rinderpest, haemorrhagic
septicaemia, anthrax, tetanus and black quarter and mallein at Mukteswar.
By 1913, large-scale production of biologicals had started in the newly
established laboratory at Izatnagar. At present, there are about 29 units with
the centre and state governments and the private sector.
OLD WORLD/NEW WORLD BIOLOGICALS

The old time biologicals were produced in animals or derived from
animal products employing less stringent processes and hence they were
crude, comparatively less pure and homogenous. Such biologicals were also
liable to produce adverse reactions in recipients. Technologies for
production of new generation biologicals employ better production
substrates (like chicken embryos, cell culture), improved down-stream
processing methods, and recombinant DNA technology approaches. Use of
cell cultures in biologicals production has resulted in comparatively pure and
homogenous biologicals preparations. Biologicals prepared in cell cultures
are also amenable to downstream processes for concentration, purification,
and can be prepared free of microbial contaminants. The recombinant DNA
technology has now made it possible to produce biologicals tailored to
specific applications. Such technologies have also made it possible to
generate biologicals from microorganisms, which are either non-cultivable
in cell cultures or have poor growth leading to uneconomic production of
biologicals. The overall cost of production of biologicals using cell cultures
and employing downstream processes suitable for high throughput product
purification has also gone down significantly. The products are of
international standards as most of the biological production facilities are
now GMP/GLP compliant. The mass-scale use of the new generation

biologicals has significantly reduced adverse reactions in recipients. Cell
culture vaccines have helped in eradication of animal diseases like rinderpest,
and have been helpful in controlling many diseases of livestock and poultry.
The livestock and poultry products are now traded internationally in higher
proportions. Similarly, ready availability of new generation diagnostic
reagents, tests and kits has helped in implementing infectious disease control
and eradication strategies at the national level.
CATEGORIES OF BIOLOGICALS
Biologicals for veterinary use can be categorized in the 7 following
categories.
Vaccines: Many bacterial, viral and parasitic vaccines are now available
in the country. Most of the bacterial vaccines are killed vaccines. Viral
vaccines are either killed/inactivated or live attenuated cell-culture based
vaccines. At the IVRI technologies for gamma-irradiated lung-worm
vaccine, cell-culture Theileria annulata schizont vaccine and MASP culture
derived Babesia bigemina vaccine were developed and tested. At the moment,
efforts are being made to develop a subunit vaccine against tick infestation.
Immunodiagnostic reagents: Immunodiagnostic reagents being
produced include mainly two broad categories of reagents–antigens and
antibodies.
Antigens: Antigens could be
• crude and partially purified antigens,
• cell-culture grown and purified viral antigens,
• Recombinant (expressed) protein antigens,
• synthetic peptides as antigens, and
• coloured or plain antigens.
Antibodies: Antibodies could be
• polyclonal antibodies like hyperimmune serum, infected serum,
convalescent serum or monospecifdic serum,
• monoclonal antibodies, and
• purified immunoglobulins intended for immunotherapy.
Immuno-modulatory cytokines: A number of immuno-modulatory
cytokines are now commercially available which have the potential as novel
adjuvants when administered along with the conventional, as well as, the
new generation vaccines to modulate immune response.
Drug delivery matrices: Systemic antibiotic delivery has certain
drawbacks such as systemic toxicity and poor penetration into ischemic and
necrotic tissues. Local antibiotic therapy offers advantages of a high local
concentration without systemic toxicity as well as dead space management,
early primary wound closure and better eradication of infection. Various
vehicles have been used for drug delivery but biological materials include a
handful of items like collagen, implant prosthetics etc. Of late, it has been
suggested that fibrin-antibiotic compounds can be used both prophylactically
and therapeutically in treating infected sites that are difficult to reach with
systemically administered antibiotics. Since fibrin blood clots are naturally

subjected to fibrinolysis as part of the body’s repair mechanism, implanted
fibrin may also rapidly degrade. Further, pattern of output from a resorbable
carrier system is of great practical importance clinically, and is most often the
only variable to achieve expected pharmacological activity. The release rate
of drug must be reproducible, be unaffected as much possible by physiological
factors to provide therapeutic plasma concentration. The use of fibrin as a
site-directed drug delivery system has several potential clinical applications;
as fibrin is a naturally occurring, haemostat and scaffold, guiding direction
of wound contraction and closure in humans. Small molecules generated
during fibrinogen clotting, such as fibrinopeptides and kallikrien, thrombin,
plasmin, etc are chemokinetic and chemotactic for almost all cells in the fibro-
proliferative phase. Fibronectin which is usually present in fibrinogen
concentrate prepared from plasma is a primary matrix for organizing
collagenous proteins, which appear early in granulation tissue generation.
Therefore, a porous biodegradable disc prepared from fibrin glue components
will form a mechanical support into which blood penetrates and holds the
tissue at the site. The uniqueness of the fibrin clot matrix is that it can be
made available in an easy, ready-to-use, lyophilized form that has a good
shelf-life. Such drug delivery matrices have been studied and used with a
promise in mice and humans, suggesting similar refinement of the technology
for use in animal husbandry; as such a device will help in avoiding systemic
medication, which may be unnecessary in most circumstances.
Biomolecules in antiviral therapy (RNA as drug): The mass
vaccination approach has contributed significantly towards controlling and
eradicating many human as well as animal viral diseases. However, of late,
siRNA-mediated reduction in viral production in mammalian cells seems
to offer a plausible approach towards antiviral therapy especially in human
viral disease control. Some of the economically most important animal
viruses include FMDV, PPRV, Blue tongue virus, Newcastle disease virus,
sheep pox and goatpox viruses and Classical swine fever virus. RNA
interference studies have been conducted in the Division of Virology with
PPRV as an RNA virus model and buffalopox virus (Orthopoxvirus genus)
and goatpox virus (Capripoxvirus genus) as DNA virus models for studying
RNA potential of interference in antiviral therapy. RNAi treatment resulted
in >98% inhibition of PPRV in cell culture.
Effect of individual siRNAs on Orthopoxvirus replication was studied
in vero cells. The significant inhibition of virus replication observed with
pox (buffalopox, goatpox), PPR and duck plague viruses indicates that
RNA interference, using synthetic RNA molecules, could be a promising
approach for antiviral therapy.
Probiotics: In addition to antibiotics, a wide variety of feed additives,
many of biotechnological origin, are known to modify rumen fermentation.
They include components that can reduce methanogenesis, enhance
propionic acid production, reduce protein degradation, improve microbial
protein synthesis and inhibit protozoa. Among such additives are antibiotics,
microbes (probiotics), and specific substrates like oligosaccharides

(prebiotics). Probiotics are live, microbial feed supplements that improve
intestinal microbial balance. The term prebiotic refers to substrate selectively
stimulating probiotics.
Microbial (including rumen fungi) enzymes for degradation of
cellulose and hemi-cellulose (microbe translocation): The transfer of
rumen microbes from Indonesian goats to Australian sheep has enabled
Australian ruminants to degrade hydroxypyridone (HDP), a metabolite
from mimosine that is commonly present in the tropical legume Leucaena
leucocephala. Another successful application from a technological point of
view is the development of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST)
hormone. Its effectiveness and safety have been confirmed by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA, but are still under dispute by
various groups. Consumers tend to be wary of the use of hormones, and
widespread application in developing countries is not without danger,
particularly because its effective application requires high-quality feed and
proper management.
FACTORS INFLUENCING QUALITY OF BIOLOGICALS

Microbial contamination of cell cultures used in production of
biologicals: Bacteria, fungi, parasite, viruses, invertebrates and
mycoplasmas are main causative agents of the cell-line contamination.
Contamination effects are categorized into three classes (i) minor
disturbances by which several plates or flasks are occasionally lost by
contamination, (ii) serious problems by which entire experiments or cell
cultures are lost; and (iii) major catastrophes that affect validity of past or
current works.
Most of the viruses contaminating cell cultures cause cytopathic effects
(CPE), and can be presumptively identified after visual inspection.
However, the best way to detect is to inoculate the cell culture supernatant
to a few other cell lines. It may take one or a few passages before CPE is
evident, thus a quarantine period of 21 days should be followed, till then
new cell cultures should be kept isolated. The bacterial and fungal (including
moulds and yeast) contamination of cell lines (except mycoplasmas) can
readily be detected by visual observation of: (i) turbidity, (ii) shift in
medium pH, resulting in change in colour of medium, and (iii) cell
destruction. However, putative pathogens such as nanobacteria cannot be
detected by visual observation. Also the antibiotic-resistant bacteria
developed, which are slow-growing, are very difficult to detect by visual
observation. Such cryptic contaminants usually persist indefinitely in
cultures, cause subtle but significant alterations in cell behaviour and
morphology, and are transferred frequently from one laboratory to another
by exchange of cell cultures. Similarly, mycoplasma contamination is also
undetected for many passages. Mycoplasma contamination of cell cultures
alters function, metabolism, growth, morphology, attachment, membranes,
chromosomal aberrations and many other properties of the cell lines. And
mycoplasmal contamination spreads quickly to other cell lines and

laboratories after exchange of cell cultures.
Sources of cell culture contamination may include: (i) contaminated
cells, (ii) glassware, apparatus including storage bottles and pipettes, (iii)
culture media and reagents (basal culture media, serum, basic salt solutions
and enzymes viz. trypsine/pronase/collagenase, etc), and (iv) airborne
contamination including other additives. The most serious is the original
contamination of cell culture used as seed cells.
FCS contamination: Most cell culture production processes involve
culture media that are supplemented with bovine foetal serum (FCS). It has
been known for a long time that FCS may be contaminated with
adventitious viruses, and BVDV is the most common contaminant. Use of
vaccines made using medium supplemented with FCS contaminated with
BVDV may result in (i) outbreak of BVDV in cattle, (ii) cause disease in
pigs, or (iii) result in induction of antibodies that might interfere with
serological surveillance programmes for the eradication of hog cholera. Now
serum-free cell cultures are being used for large-scale production of vaccines
under serum-free conditions. However, complex requirements for in-vitro
growth seem to be cell-type specific, and it cannot be guaranteed that large
scale serum-free production processes can be developed for all biological
products. Therefore, it has to be accepted that the use of FCS during
production of biologicals is presently still routine, and will continue to be
so in the near future.
NEW GENERATION PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND ASSAYS OF

BIOLOGICALS
New generation assays for quality assurance of biologicals:
Nucleic acid Amplification Technology (NAT) has revolutionized detection
and molecular characterization of pathogens. However, complexity of NAT,
comprising sample preparation, amplification and detection methods,
requires specific design considerations for both the laboratory and the
procedure utilized in such testing. Technical considerations for performance
of the NAT to address the detection of human infectious agents in blood,
plasma, serum and other components by the NAT have been described.
Improved down-stream processing methods: These methods have
allowed production of biologicals of superior quality, which have helped in
minimizing adverse reactions due to comparatively impure biologicals used
in the earlier times. Incidence of disease outbreaks (like FMD, rabies, etc)
due to the use of inactivated viral vaccines in the field has gone down
significantly. Adverse reactions due to use of vaccines produced in animal-
host like rabies in sheep brain, many viral vaccines in embryonated chicken
eggs and Japanese encephalitis virus vaccine in mouse brain have now been
reduced due to use of cell culture for production of these vaccines.
New fractionation assays for removal of TSE agent from
products: Prion diseases have recently become a focus of intense research
interest. The level of concern surrounding potential contamination of

therapeutic products with prion, coupled with difficulty in destroying agents
of transmissible spongy form encephalopathy disease has opened a new
market to TSE removal processes. A lot more processes are now being
tested for plasma product purification and in-process simultaneous prion
removal. Gradiflow is such a technology, which has recently been tested for
prion removal and has proved effective.
Inactivation of viruses in biologicals: Manufacturing processes of
all plasma derivatives required comprise dedicated virus inactivation/removal
steps for enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Virus inactivation
procedures include solvent/detergent treatment, acid treatment, heat
treatment in solutions at 60°C and heat treatment in lyophilized state. These
operations have proved effective against lipid-enveloped viruses such as
HBV, HCV and HIV. However, suitable procedures for inactivation of non-
enveloped viruses HAV, human parvovirus B19 remain to be developed. UV
irradiation can inactivate a wide variety of microorganisms including
enveloped and non-enveloped viruses but existing UV-irradiation processes
have some difficulty especially large volumes cannot be irradiated. Of late,
a new UV irradiation process “Continuous flow design” has been
developed, which is found sufficiently effective.
THERMOSTABILITY OR THERMO-RESISTANCE OF FINISHED PRODUCTS

Improved freeze-drying techniques and machines, use of proven
stabilizers, and airtight sealing of vials and ampoules have improved
thermostability of the finished products. Use of accredited stabilizers like
sucrose, trehalose and many other combinations have improved shelf-life of
biologicals. Deuterated water may further enhance stability of products,
especially virus preparations like vaccine seed viruses, viral vaccines, purified
protein antigens and antibodies; especially monoclonal antibodies; as has
been seen by better stabilization of oral polio vaccine and yellow fever
vaccine.
ENDOGENOUS RETROVIRUSES IN CELL LINES USED FOR BIOLOGICAL

PRODUCTION
It has long been established that rodent cell lines contain retrovirus
elements that may be expressed as particles detectable by electron
microscopy. Such particles may be infectious, as in murine leukemia virus
(MLV); or defective and non-infectious, as in Chinese hamster ovary
(CHO) cell retroviruses. Despite lack of evidence for such an association
between murine retrovirus and disease in man and animals, the potential
contamination of biologicals with agents associated with oncogenicity and
immunosuppression in biological products is a cause of regulatory concern.
Detection and characterization of retroviruses in master and end of
production cell banks is recommended by regulatory agencies using electron
microcopy, reverse transcriptase assay and appropriate infectivity or co-
cultivation assays. Detection of nucleic acid of these viruses in cells by RT-
PCR could be another sensitive and specific test for certifying cells. In
addition, determination of retrovirus particles load and experimental
demonstration of appropriate removal or inactivation of retroviruses during
purification are also required for each product.
GMP/GLP COMPLIANT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION UNITS

In the wake of the WTO and the international trade, the GMP/GLP
compliance by biological production units has become mandatory. Almost
all biological production units under private management in India have
either complied to GMP/GLP facilities and/or are in the final stages of
creating such facilities essentially required for production of veterinary
biologicals of international quality. The biological production units of State
Government sector have also geared up for GMP/GLP compliance. The
Institute for Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals at Bangalore has
GMP/GLP facilities, while IAHVB, Kolkata, has ISO certified production
facilities. Other institutes are already in the process of creating such facilities.
Veterinary biologicals produced in GMP/GLP compliant facilities will not
only ensure the product of superior quality but also give a competitive edge
in the world market.
The diagnostic tests for international trade have to use internationally
accredited diagnostic reagents and follow internationally accepted diagnostic
procedures. GLP facilities will help in ensuring development and use of such
tests and therefore, most diagnostic labs in the country are going for ISO
certification. Central Disease Diagnostic Referral Laboratory (CDDRL) at
the IVRI has already been given ISO 9001:2000 certification in 2004 for
diagnostic laboratories.
The National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) at the NOIDA has GMP/
GLP compliant biological production facilities. Department of Animal
Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), Government of India, is
also setting up a GMP/GLP compliant facility at Baghpat in Meerut on the
lines of the NIB for production of veterinary biologicals. Establishment of
such a facility will ensure availability of quality biologicals of international
standards and acceptance, which, in turn, will help in augmenting the
productivity of livestock, enhancing income generation by animal husbandry
sector in India. This will also help in marketing of livestock and livestock
products in the international market.
NEW GENERATION TESTS/ASSAYS FOR VACCINE POTENCY ESTIMATION

Potency is a key indicator for quality of any live attenuated vaccine.
Potency is estimated by virus titration calculating median tissue culture
infectivity dose (TCID50) or median cell culture infectivity dose (CCID50),
or plaque forming unit (PFU) assays. These assays measure amount of
infectious virus particles in vaccine by counting plaques or observing CPE
that, at times, becomes difficult. Further, potency estimation of a single
component virus vaccine by conventional methods is easier but difficult for
multivalent vaccines due to various reasons including CPE complexity and
magnitude. Potency estimation by counting tiny or too big plaques may

result in invalid assays. Moreover, these conventional assays are dependent
on the observation of the CPE and take a longer time before plaque or CPE
becomes visible in a cell monolayer.
New generation assays like quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) in
combination with a short-term virus replication step, also known as qRT-
PCR infectivity assay, overcomes this problem, and has proven effective in
potency estimation of measles virus in trivalent MMR vaccine. q-RT-PCR
infectivity assay precision is comparable to plaque assay and is able to
provide quantitative information on the growth characteristics of vaccine
viruses. This assay has been used for potency estimation of many viruses in
live attenuated vaccines like measles virus in trivalent MMR vaccine,
measles, mumps and rubella viruses in trivalent MMR vaccine, Japanese
encephalitis and many others.
COMMERCIAL SUPPLIES OF CONSUMABLES

Commercial supplies of safe and sterile consumables like (i) plastic-
ware (including centrifuge tubes, tissue culture flasks, micro-well tissue
culture plates, tissue culture petri dishes), (ii) minor instruments (syringes,
vacutainers, storage vials) and (iii) other lab accessories used by workers
(gloves, face masks, overall wear, head covers, disposable shoes) have
definitely improved the quality and safety of biologicals being produced
now-a-days. Clean and sterile collection and processing of samples especially
blood and serum has been possible because of the availability of disposable
vacutainers, needle and syringes, centrifuge tubes, vials for cryo-storage and
ampoules and vials for freeze-drying. Commercial availability of accessories
for dispensing, packing, freeze-drying and storage has helped in production
of safe and quality biologicals.
ALTERNATE PRODUCTION SUBSTRATES AND METHODOLOGIES

Production of biologicals in olden times depended heavily on animals
and animal-derived products. Availability of chicken eggs, chicken embryos
and cell cultures has offered an alternate suitable substrate for mass-scale
quality production of biologicals, especially for viruses. Specific pathogen-
free eggs and embryos, defined cell culture media, serum certified free of
viruses, serum-free cell-culture media have further improved quality and
overall cost of production of biologicals. Thus, the transition from animals
to cell culture as substrate has been the great stride in improving quality
and reducing cost of production of biologicals at mass-scale.
Advent and subsequent advancements in rDNA technology, chemical
synthesis processes and newer downstream processing methods have made
it possible to identify target region in the genome, design oligonucleotide
primers for PCR amplification, cloning, high throughput sequencing and
technology for optimal expression of foreign proteins in heterologous
systems (prokaryotic, mammalian, yeast or insect expression systems), and
chemical synthesis of peptides have paved the way for producing much-
more refined and specific immunobiologicals against bacteria, viruses and

parasites, which may not be amenable to easy cultivation. Many vaccines
like sheep-brain rabies vaccine had resulted in severe adverse reaction when
used for vaccination. Further, large number of injections had to be given.
The cell-culture produced rabies vaccines are currently available, which can
be used even as a single dose vaccine or else 3-5 injections may have to be
taken, instead of 14 injections, as was the case earlier. The post-exposure
adverse events reporting has also come down significantly, and now it is
unheard of that such reactions occur after rabies vaccination.
IMPACT OF VETERINARY BIOLOGICALS ON ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

SECTOR
The veterinary biologicals have been the backbone of present-day
animal husbandry in India. The potent immunobiologicals including
conventional immunoprophylactics, diagnostic antigens and vaccines have
played vital role in providing effective animal health coverage. More than
40 immunobiologicals were produced in India in early 1990s. The total
production of different biologicals in Government sector in 1985 was
approximately 400 million doses. The old production methods have been
upgraded from time-to-time and now GMP/GLP compliant facilities are
coming up very fast. Realizing potential market economics of
immunobiologicals including vaccines, the private sector companies have
invested huge sum of money, and private sector production units already
have GMP/GLP complaint facilities in place. Government production
institutes have geared up and will have GMP/GLP compliant facilities not
only for production of immunobiologicals but also for disease diagnosis in
a very near future.
Judicious application of veterinary disease control measures and use
of biological products have enabled (i) eradication of African horse sickness
and rinderpest from India, (ii) control of poultry diseases like Ranikhet
disease, fowlpox and spirochaetosis, making poultry industry a viable
enterprise in India. The other diseases which could be controlled effectively
include black quarter, pasteurellosis in cattle, brucellosis and clostridial
infection in sheep. The vaccination of cattle has brought down disease
significantly over many plan periods. The disease has now been eradicated
from the country. The latest veterinary biologicals (vaccine and diagnostic
kits) for diseases like PPR, sheep-pox and goat-pox have provided the
impetus to launch national disease control programmes for PPR, sheep-pox
and goat-pox. The monoclonal antibody based rinderpest competitive
ELISA (RP cELISA) kit, developed at the IVRI, for detection of rinderpest
virus antibodies has been internationally validated, accepted by OIE/FAO
and ultimately approved for field use under the National Project for
Rinderpest Eradication (NPRE) in India. This kit has been produced in-
house at the IVRI and has been supplied throughout the nation since 2002.
The kit has successfully been used in the country and has served as import
substitution item. Similarly, the PPR sandwich ELISA kit (for detection of
PPRV antigen) and PPR competitive ELISA kit (for detection of PPRV
antibodies) are produced in-house at the IVRI and are supplied throughout
the nation (Table 1). The PPR kits are also being used extensively in the
country and are in very high demand. These kits have also served as the
means for import substitution. The overall savings due to development of
these kits via import substitution could be more than Rs 10 million in the
last 3-4 years (Table 2).
Table 1. Total number of rinderpest and PPR kits produced in-house and distributed
nationally during 2002-05
Sl Kit Year-wise distribution of kits Cumulative total
No. 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 of kits distributed
1. Rinderpest c-ELISA kit 12 (1,800) 27 (40,500) 69 (103,500) 108 (155,800)
2. PPR c-ELISA kit 06 (3,000) 27 (13,500) 76 (3,800) 109 (54,500)
3. PPR s-ELISA kit 03 (300) 21 (2,100) 39 (3,900) 63 (6,300)
Figures in parentheses indicate total number of samples tested.
Table 2. Cost factor analysis for PPR s-ELISA and c-ELISA kits
Kit Year Total Cost of Cost of Revenue
samples analysis by analysis by saved
BDSL indigenous kit (INR)
kit (INR) (INR)
PPR c-ELISA kit 2001-2005 66,530 1,663,250 332,650 1,330,600
PPR s-ELISA kit 2001-2005 13,298 9,973,500 332,450 9,641,050
Total (INR) 11,636,750 665,100 10,971,650
Bluetongue is another serious disease in sheep in India, where 20

serotypes of bluetongue virus (BTV) have been reported to be present based
on the serology as well as on the isolation of the viruses from the field.
There are no kits available, and India imports these kits from abroad. These
kits are not available freely, and are expensive. Cost of testing each sample
works out to be Rs 50/sample. The IVRI has recently developed an indirect
ELISA based on cell culture grown purified BTV antigen for detection of
BTV antibodies in field serum samples. This ELISA has diagnostic
sensitivity (DSn) and diagnostic specificity (DSp) equivalent to the
imported kits. The indirect ELISA developed at the IVRI costs Rs 10 per
sample. Recombinant BTV VP7 truncated gene has also been expressed in
prokaryotic expression system, and this protein works well in place of cell
culture grown purified BTV. Efforts are on to express this protein in yeast
in large quantities. In the mean time, research continues to develop
recombinant BTV VP7 protein-based indirect ELISA (Table 3).
INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED IN MANUFACTURING OF ANIMAL
BIOLOGICALS (SOURCE: www.indiadairy.com)
The institutions involved in manufacturing vaccines and other
biological products in India are as follows.
• Institute of Veterinary Biologicals, Guwahati, Assam
• Veterinary Biologicals and Research Institute, Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh
Table 3. Antigen and antibody detection kits at different stages of development at the IVRI
Sl Kit Antigen/ Test Diagnostic Diagnostic Samples Validation
No. antibody sample specificity sensitivity tested
used capacity so far
Field diagnostic kits for detection of antibodies in clinical serum samples
1. Rinderpest Anti RPV 1,500 93% 89% Internationally
competitive H MAb samples validated and
ELISA in duplicate accepted by
(c-ELISA) OIE
2. PPR Anti 500 98.84% 92.2% 58,700 Validated
competitive PPRV samples nationally by
ELISA HMAb in more than 25
(c-ELISA) duplicate laboratories
3. Indirect Cell 100%* 79%* 1,544 Validated
ELISA for culture (388/388) (195/247) internally. To
detection of purified 98.4%** 92.2%** be validated
PPR PPRV (952/967) (676/733) by outside
antibodies vaccine laboratories
antigen
4. Indirect Cell
ELISA for culture
detection of purified
BTV BTV
antibodies antigen
5. Indirect Cell
ELISA for culture
detection ofpurified
capripox goat-pox
virus (CaPV)(CPV)
antibodies virus
antigen
Field diagnostic kits for detection of antigen from clinical samples
6. PPR Anti 100 5,983 Validated
sandwich PPRV samples nationally by
ELISA N MAb in more than 25
(s-ELISA) duplicate laboratories
* Compared with VNT using 967 samples (952/967); ** compared with PPR c-ELISA using
733 samples (676/733)
• Poultry Viral Vaccine Production Unit, Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh

• Institute of Animal Health and Production, Patna, Bihar
• Animal Vaccine Institute, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Haryana Veterinary Vaccine Institute, Hisar, Haryana
• Anti-rabies Vaccine Laboratory, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir
• Institute of Animal Health and Biological Products, Srinagar,
Jammu and Kashmir
• Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Bangalore,
Karnataka
• Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Palode,
Kerala
• Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Mhow,

Madhya Pradesh
• Institute of Veterinary Biological Products, Pune, Maharashtra
• Orissa Biological Products Institute, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa
• Punjab Veterinary Vaccine Institute, Ludhiana, Punjab
• Regional Veterinary Biological Unit, Jaipur, Rajasthan
• Institute of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Ranipet, Tamil Nadu
• Institute of Veterinary Biologicals, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
• Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Uttar
Pradesh
• Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Kolkata,
West Bengal
VETERINARY BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS
Number of licensed veterinary biological products available globally

include (a) Vaccines (155), (b) Bacterins and bacterial extracts (106), (c)
Antibody products (19), (d) Vaccines with bacterins/bacterial extracts/
toxoids (185), (e) Diagnostic products (86), (f) Antitoxins (8), (g)
Bacterin-toxoids (54), (h) Toxoids (11) and (i) Miscellaneous (11) (Source:
www.aphis.usda.gov).
BIOLOGICALS AND MANUFACTURERS
Major animal biologicals available in India include: (a) FMD vaccine

(cattle and sheep), (b) Gumboro vaccine-IBD (poultry), (c) Newcastle
disease vaccine, (d) Marek’s vaccine, (e) Rabies vaccine (cattle and canine),
(f) Canine multi-component vaccine.
LEADING INDIAN PLAYERS IN ANIMAL BIOLOGICALS

Leading players in animal biologicals in India include: Fort Dodge,
Hester Pharma, Indian Immunologicals Ltd, Intervet, Indovax, Ventri
Biologicals, Zydus Cadila.
INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS PRESENCE IN INDIA

International players in India include: Akzo Nobel (Intervet), Fort
Dodge (American Home Product), ABIC (Zydus Cadila), CEVAC
(Ranbaxy), Merial (Hester Pharma), Factro (Stellan), and TAD (Indo Bio
Care (IBC).
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA INITIATIVES

Animal wealth in India has increased manifolds and animal husbandry
practices have changed to a great extent following introduction of newer
technologies particularly for crossbreeding and upgradation of indigenous
breeds. More recently, with the liberalization of trade after the advent of
World Trade Organization’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement,
the chances of ingress of exotic diseases into the country have increased.
For ensuring disease-free status and to be compatible with the standards

laid down by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) - World Animal
Health Organization; major health schemes have been initiated to support
animal health programmes in the states.
Further, to control economically important livestock diseases and to
undertake obligatory functions related to animal health in the country, the
Central Government is implementing a centrally sponsored macro-
management scheme called “Livestock Health and Disease Control”. The
scheme is being implemented with an outlay of Rs 525 crore. It has several
components – Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases (ASCAD),
National Project on Rinderpest Eradication (NPRE), Foot-and-Mouth
Disease Control Programme (FMD-CP) and Professional Efficiency
Development (PED). In 2005-06, the department of animal husbandry,
Ministry of Agriculture, allocated about Rs 99.95 crore for livestock health.
The outlay included Rs 55 crore for animal disease control, Rs 7 crore for
National Project on Rinderpest Eradication, and Rs 2.95 crore for
professional efficiency development and Rs 35 crore for Foot-and-Mouth
Disease Control Programme.
For control of major livestock and poultry diseases by way of
prophylactic vaccination, the required quantities of vaccines are produced
in the country at 26 veterinary vaccine production units. Of these, 19 are
in public sector and seven are in the private sector. Import of vaccines by
private agencies is also permitted as and when required. According to the
annual report 2004-05 of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry
of Agriculture, a network of 26,540 polyclinics, hospitals and dispensaries
and 25,433 veterinary-aid centres, supported by about 250 disease
diagnostic laboratories, are functioning in states and union territories for
quick and reliable diagnosis of diseases.
ANIMAL HEALTH-CARE VIS-à-VIS BIOLOGICALS MARKET

According to various reports, the worldwide sales of biotech-based
products for use in animal health had generated US$2.8 billion in 2003
(out of a total market for animal health products of US$18 billion). The
share of biotechnology-based products and services in 2004 was US$4.1
billion, out of the total animal health-care market of US$21 billion. This
was expected to grow to US$5.1 billion by 2005 in a total animal health-
care market of US$23 billion. Animal biotechnology market is projected to
be worth US$12.5 billion by 2010. According to the USDA, there are
different licensed biotech products available for animals. These products
include veterinary vaccines, biologics and diagnostic kits. The animal health
industry invests more than US$400 million a year in research and
development.
The global animal biological market is one-sixth of the animal health
market of US$18 billion, and it is growing at 7% against animal health
market growth rate of 2%. In India, the animal health-care market is Rs
1,000 crore, growing at the rate of 10%. The major segments include cattle
(45%), poultry (40%), canine (6%), sheep (4%) and others (5%). The
animal biologicals, market in the country is one-fifth of the health market
(Rs 200 crore) but it is growing faster than the health market at 15%.
Segments in animal biologicals include cattle (42%), poultry (45%), canine
(7%), sheep (3%) and others (3%).
The animal health-care industry in India has been increasing from
about US$200 million in 2000, racing up to US$215 million in 2003,
US$230 million in 2004 and US$246 million (estimated) in 2005.
However, as per the latest report of CLFMA of India (an Association of
Livestock Industry), the animal health-care market is Rs 1,350 crore. There
are 250 companies in this space. The market is growing at 8-10%. Although
biologicals contribute about 15% (i.e. about Rs 200 crore) of the animal
health-care market, it is growing at the rate of 25%. The estimated
proportion of animal biologicals can be 63%, 24% and 13% for poultry
vaccine, FMD vaccine, and vaccine for companion animals, respectively,
contributing approximately Rs 200 crore (Rs 128 crore by poultry vaccine
sector; Rs 47 crore by cattle vaccine sector; Rs 25 crore by pet animal
vaccine sector). Besides the private sector, there are many organizations in
cooperative or public sectors. These are running at no profit–no loss basis.
However, as per the Chairman of CLFMA of India, the Indian animal
biologicals market is about Rs 400-500 crore. The major contribution is
from public and cooperative sectors. The public sector mainly consists of
Government institutes as all the state governments have one or two
veterinary institutes to manufacture the basic vaccines for animals like sheep,
goat and cattle. These institutes supply animal biologicals at very nominal
price or free to farmers. Hence, it is difficult to calculate exact size of animal
biologicals market. Besides, there are companies in private sector too
contributing (roughly about Rs 200 crore) to animal biologicals market.
The leading private players in large animal biologicals sector include
Indian Immunologicals Limited, Intervet (India) Limited, and BAIF group.
The leading companies in poultry sector include Venkateshwara Hatcheries
group (Ventri Biologicals), Hester Pharmaceuticals, Indovax, while Intervet,
Serum Institute of India, GlaxoSmithKline Beecham, and Zydus Sarabhai
are the main players in companion (pet) animal sector. Most of the vaccines
for pets are imported and supplied through distributors. The market is
small compared to other two segments but is picking up and growing at
10-12%.
There is relatively higher growth of vaccines in animal health market
in India due to new initiatives undertaken by the Government for control
of animal diseases. The vaccines for poultry and FMD vaccine for cattle have
been the fastest growing sector. Bulk proportion of poultry vaccines and
FMD vaccine are produced by companies in private sector as well as public
sector companies. The size of the vaccine market is over Rs 400 crore.
Venkateshwara Group and Srini Biologicals dominate poultry vaccine
market. They have a captive market. Other important vaccine manufacturers
are Indovax, located at Hisar, that has collaboration with Vineland, USA.
Hester Pharmaceuticals Ltd is mainly into poultry vaccines but is eager to

enter animal biologicals space.
The Indian poultry vaccine market is about Rs 150 crore. The market
share of poultry vaccine manufacturing companies is approximately 10% of
Hester Pharmaceuticals, 50% of Venkateshwara Hatcheries (Group
Company of Western Hatcheries) and 9-14% of Indovax, while the
imported vaccines meet the rest. Intervet does imports from parent
company, American Home Products and Zydus Sarabhai from ABIC, Israel.
Except one or two types of poultry vaccines, all other poultry vaccines are
manufactured in the country. The strong domestic industry with technology
capabilities and sound cost structure has supported the growth of animal
biologicals market; making us to witness more of exports (Rs 20 crore) with
little of imports (Rs 10 crore).
PARADIGM (STRATEGIC) SHIFT

There are about 30 companies in animal biologicals both in public and
private sectors but only a few companies are currently exporting vaccines.
The country has to look at import of vaccines to meet indigenous demands.
India imported 445 kg of antiserum in 2004-05 and 6,870,000 (vials/unit/
doses) of vaccine while exported 71.9 kg of antiserum and 330,950 vials/
unit/doses (vaccine export figures up to 31 October 2004) in 2004-05. The
opportunity is opening up further, and Indian Government has been making
all-out efforts to bridge gap between supply and demand.
Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) has been widespread in India,
creating massive economic losses. Existence of FMD in India is not only
limiting beef export opportunities but also hitting farmers hard as milk
production in FMD infected animals reduce drastically. The Government
of India has earmarked FMD control as the top priority and has put in place
livestock improvement programmes. FMD eradication programme has been
in place in 54 specified districts of the country in the first phase with 100%
central funding as cost of vaccine, maintenance of cold chain and other
logistic supports to undertake vaccination. The state governments are
providing other infrastructures and manpower. Five rounds of vaccinations
are to be done during the tenth plan comprising mandatory vaccination of
40 million animals annually for a five years, and the allocation for this is
around Rs 200 crore. About 270 lakh vaccinations were carried out under
this programme during the first round in 2003-04 and about 550 lakh
vaccinations are expected to be carried out in the second and third rounds.
Once the vaccination drive is completed, the region will be declared “FMD-
free zone”. Eventually “disease free zones” will be extended to the entire
country.
The FMD-CP has led to manifold increase in demand for vaccines.
The production units under public sector cannot fulfill this growing demand
for FMD vaccine. Further, Government agencies are supplying vaccines
either free of cost or levying minor amount for each dose. As the current
vaccine manufacturers are unable to meet this increasing demand, there is a
scope for 2-3 more companies in the market. The highly technical nature
of FMD vaccine sector (in terms of people and regulatory compliance), high
entry cost barriers and the edge of Government companies over private
companies (in terms of reach as Government companies have a very good
network to reach to the micro levels) deter small-time players to enter this
segment. However, companies like Bharat Biotech (one of the leading
names in human biologics), Brilliant Industries (mainly dealing pet
vaccines) and Venkateshwara Hatcheries/Hester Pharmaceuticals (mainly
dealing poultry vaccines) are entering into large animal vaccine market also.
INDIAN IMMUNOLOGICALS LIMITED (http://www.indimmune.com/

businessoverview.html)
Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary
of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and was established
in 1983. The facility was initially set-up to manufacture Foot-and-Mouth
disease (FMD) vaccine with technical know-how obtained from The
Wellcome Foundation, UK. Subsequently, IIL has developed and introduced
several veterinary biologicals through its own R&D efforts. Today, IIL is a
market leader in veterinary biologicals in India, and operates world’s largest
plant for veterinary vaccines. The IIL’s manufacturing facilities for both
animal and human vaccines are WHO-GMP and ISO-9002 certified. The
IIL is also India’s largest veterinary products exporter. Exports of animal
health products contributed to 30% of its total turnover of Rs 55 crore in
2002-03.
Of late, the IIL has diversified and set-up Human Vaccines Plant and
R&D Centre at a total cost of approx. Rs 50 crore in Hyderabad. The new
state-of-the-art Human Vaccines plant has been designed to manufacture
various human vaccines like recombinant hepatitis B, hepatitis A, measles,
diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. This plant also has plans to produce new
combination vaccines in future. The plant has a capacity to produce 200
million doses per annum of each vaccine. With the new vaccine plant, IIL
will contribute significantly towards making India self-sufficient in modern
vaccines, and also help the country emerge as a leading vaccine manufacturer
in the world. The IIL already markets a modern tissue-culture rabies
vaccine, Abhayrab, for human-beings.
Along with the manufacturing unit, a modern R&D Centre with
highly qualified staff consisting of post-graduates and doctorates in various
fields has also been set-up. The main objective of this Centre is to develop
various animal and human vaccines and biologicals. Attention would also
be focussed on the development of glycoconjugate vaccines. It is expected
that many new products will roll-out of this R&D Centre in the coming
years and these products should be available to Indian farmers and the
public at affordable prices; which is in line with the NDDB’s mission
“affordable immunity with technologically superior biologicals”.
The market potential for human vaccines is immense; with over one-
quarter of the world’s children still outside the protection of common
vaccine preventable diseases. Nearly three million people, two million of

them children, who die every year from killer diseases, could have been
saved by vaccination. Currently, the size of the global human vaccines
market is about US$ 6 billion and is growing at about 9% annually. This is
expected to reach to about US$10 billion by 2010-11. With new
therapeutic vaccines being developed for HIV, malaria etc, it may even go
to US$ 25 billion. Despite this large business potential, there is still acute
shortage of some critical vaccines. The UNICEF, which meets around 40%
of the global demand for children’s vaccines, is seeking urgent global
response in sourcing these vaccines to prevent what can become a crisis.
The IIL hopes to emerge as the major supplier to UNICEF for their global
immunization programme.
The global market for animal vaccines is about US$ 2 million,
growing at 4% p.a. The IIL hopes to be the major vaccine player in both
animal and human vaccines, and plans to target about 1 % share of the
global market for human vaccines by 2010.
16
Transformation through Public-Private
Partnership—An Interface on the
Dairy Sector
Animesh Banerjee
Dairying was among the first commercial endeavours in agriculture.

Knowledge of the farming and subsequent domestication of the bovine,
cattle, had led to the value-added products from its milk, and the initial
foray into business from the sale of these products. The bovine animals,
therefore, became the epicenter of agriculture, and civil societies harnessed
them as the key input to agribusiness. Their multipurpose usages have been
for milk, meat, tilling, drafting, skin, hide, etc.
With the passage of time, the industrial nations adopted practice of
technology-driven agriculture including livestock to optimize their resource
and manpower, whereas the rest of the world continued to depend on the
home-grown labour-intensive system.
GLOBAL MARKET AND PRODUCTION TRENDS

The global milk output rose by approximately 1.6% in 2004-05, driven
mainly by increased production in Asia, US and Eastern and Central Europe
(Fig. 1). The overall trend of higher production in developing countries is
expected to continue. It is therefore not unacceptable to assume that if the
current trend in the international milk product markets is to continue, the
developing nations would increasingly be responsible for a larger chunk of
the market in future. This is becoming more prudent in the post-liberalized
environment when distortion-free global trade is truly emerging!
INDIAN DAIRY SCENARIO

Production
Dairying is an integral part of Indian agribusiness. The livestock
sector, in particular, dairying is one of the fastest growing sectors in India,
with a total size of about Rs 1,160 billion (Rs 116,000 crore) or US$ 26.5
billion. In 2003-04, contribution of the livestock sector to Indian GDP
was at 6.56%, while the dairy sector contributed at 4.39%.
President, Indian Dairy Association, IDA House, Sector IV, R.K. Puram, New Delhi 110 022
DAIRYING THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP 93
Source: World Dairy Situation 2005
Fig. 1. Global milk production trend (in million tonnes)
Milk production in India is still dominated by small and marginal

land-holding farmers and landless labourers. Annual production, which had
in fact stagnated between 17.5 and 22 million tonnes during 1960s, steadily
increased at 7.8% in 90s, and has subsequently been maintained around 5%
per annum. India is the largest milk producer in the world, which at present
is estimated to be 93.6 million tonnes, growing at an average rate of 4-
4.5% per annum. And the milk availability is at present 232 g per person
per day.
About 11 million workers are employed in principal status and 8
million in the subsidiary status in livestock sector, women constitute 71%
of the labour force in livestock farming. In dairying, 75 million women are
engaged as against 15 million men, while in case of small ruminants, the
sharing of work with men is almost equal.
Supply Chain
In traditional and unorganized dairy system in India, milk producers
directly supply milk to consumers or through a marketing channel, and
through milk producers supplying milk to consumers through
Fig. 2. Supply chain (Unorganized)

Fig. 3. Supply chain (Organized)
intermediaries like middlemen and/or milk contractors via marketing

channels (Fig. 2).
In the organized sector, (i) Producers’ milk reaches private processors
either directly and/or through middlemen/milk contractors. After processing
and/or value-addition, milk reaches consumers through marketing channel.
(ii) Producers’ milk reaches private processors directly and/or through
producers’ association. After processing and/or value-addition, it reaches
consumers through the marketing channel. (iii) Milk producers supply their
milk to primary co-operative society, which inter alia supplies to secondary
co-operative (Fig. 3). The milk, after processing and/or value-addition in
the secondary co-operative, reaches consumers via marketing channel, either
directly or through apex co-operative. The apex co-operatives for bulk
marketing sometimes operate through national federation of co-operatives.
Dairy and Food Market

The food market in India is growing at 15% per annum owing to
faster growth of the urban population. According to the study jointly
conducted by McKinsey and Confederation of Indian Industry, the food
market was expected around US$ 140 billion in 2005.
The demand for hygienically processed and packed Indian dairy
products has been increasing in the urban demand centres (study by
Rabobank International). This is because of the economic and demographic
changes, including rising disposable income, growing proportion of
working women as well as the greater awareness to global trends. The
findings of Robobank International are briefly presented in Fig. 4, Table 1.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTICIPATION
In developed dairying nations, the role of State or Parastatial

organization is confined primarily to policy formulations and policy
support. Therefore, the investments in the developed nations from the State
Fig. 4. Milk utilization
Table 1. Dairy products and expected market sizes

Product Market Size 2005 Expected
Est. in INR bn CAGR
(USD mn)
High Growth
Liquid milk-packaged 98 (2040) 8%
Ethenic sweets 1.3 (27)
Paneer (Cottage cheese) 1.0 (21)
Curd (yoghurt) 0.8 (17) 40%
Shrikhand (Flavoured yoghurt) 1.0(21) 20%
Cheese 3.1(65) 15%
Infant milk foods 71 (1479) 30%
Flavoured milk 0.4 (8) 10%
Ice creams 10.5 (219) 15%
Mature Products
Butter 8.2(171) 6%
Ghee (butter oil) 236 (4917) 3%
Milk powder 17 (354) 3%
Dairy whitener 8.1 (169) 3%
Condensed milk 1.2 (25) 3%
Indian Food and Dairy Product Market

• Indian food market is growing at 15% p.a.
• Indian food market’s segmental growth
Subsistence level at 14% p.a.
Basic level at 100% p.a.
Premium level at 150% p.a.
• Organized Dairy Industry of India grew over 13% CAGR, from US$ 3 billion in
2001 to US$ 5 billion in 2005.
• The market size of traditional Indian milk products, which was US$ 4.4 billion in
2001, was expected at US$ 5.0 billion in 2005.
• The market size of other Indian dairy products, which was US$ 1.3 in billion in
2001, was expected at US$ 2.5 billion in 2005.
or Parastatial institutions are minimal, other than providing production and/

or export subsidies, besides tariff supports, as far as the production,
processing and marketing of milk and milk products are concerned. The
investments primarily come from producers for all grassroots activities
including milk production. However, the investments for various
components of the value-chains are generally by the milk producers’ co-
operative institutions. In some of the developed countries, particularly after
globalization, investor-owned firms are making substantial private
investments, especially in processing and value-addition.
In contrast to the above, the state plays a pre-dominant role in
dairying in most of the developing countries, including India. With the
success of the Anand model of co-operative dairy development and its
replication through the Operation Flood programme, however, the milk co-
operatives have commanded the organized dairying in India. Around 12-
15% of milk produced in India is being handled by organized sector, and
the balance remains with unorganized sector. In post-liberalized era, there
has been a quantum jump in private investments from investor-owned
organizations, especially in milk processing and value-addition (Tables 2,3).
Table 2. Processing capacities in different sectors in India
Sector Registration Granted Capacity LPD
Private 267 25,761,000
(9.402 MT/year)
Co-operative 194 24,357,000
(8.890 MT/year)
Government 61 7,160,000
(2.613 MT/year)
Total 522 57,278,000
(20.906 MT/year)
Source: IRMA
Table 3. Throughputs and value of the dairy industry over the decades in India
1951 1970 1998 1999 2000
Milk processing throughout (million litres/day) 0.2 2.5 20 21 22
Value of Dairy Industries (Rs in billion) 10 50 1,050 1,102 1,158
Source: IRMA
Broad areas of PPP

In the developed world, technology-driven dairy development with a

hard-core commercial approach is being propagated whereas in developing
countries, particularly in India, dairying still continues to remain as a socio-
economic tool with severe constraints of low-yield, low-quality, inadequate
infrastructures like cooling facilities, connectivity, etc. Besides, it is now
being exposed to emerging challenges of highly subsidized milk products,
subsequent to globalization.
In the present scenario, Indian dairy sector needs an overall
restructuring, particularly in animal breeding and feeding, health-care,
disease control, milk production and its value-addition. The farm-oriented
technology-driven milk production is becoming very relevant to come up
to international standards. But, with limitations like small holder-driven-
cum-fragmented landholdings, it would not be possible to completely
resurrect existing system. Nevertheless, with growth of niche market and
demand of high-quality milk, the production system can be segmentized
commensurating with different market segments. All these new situations
call for a massive investment at every tier of the value-chain of the Indian
Dairy Sector. It is obvious that to sustain it, public/private investments,
organizing through different institutional mechanisms, including joint
ventures, would be desirable. The education, management and manpower
training, research and development in the dairy sector continue to remain a
domain of the State or Parastatial institutions. It is no doubt that the
fundamental research should continue to be supported by the state either
directly or through institutional arrangements. But, applied research, which
has to be need-based, should gradually be reinstalled as a commercial tool
for dairy development. This can be organized in the form of projectizing as
well as developing incentive schemes either through equitable partnerships
or joint ventures so that all stakeholders including state can play a proactive
role in optimizing resources.
The broad areas, wherein scope of public and private investments have
been identified and accordingly focussed are presented in a box on p. 97.
The Indian Dairy Sector despite having several competitive advantages
is yet to become a leading global player. The comparative advantages are
getting nullified, as stated earlier, due to lower density of production vis-à-
vis high haulage cost, lack of infrastructure, quality, etc. The multi-faceted
and multi-disciplinary sector like dairying, which has high job-generating
potential, particularly at the grassroots, needs strong policy support as well
as proactive and participatory roles from all stakeholders, whether they are
in public or private sector or in co-operatives.
17
Public-Private Partnership in Fisheries and
Aquaculture
S. Ayyappan
India is a major maritime state and an important aquaculture country

in the world. Our country stands fourth in the world with regards to total
fish production, with an annual production of about 6.4 million tonnes;
with the marine and the inland sectors contributing 3.0 and 3.4 million
tonnes. Aquaculture is increasingly becoming important, with an annual
growth rate of over 6%. The country is the second largest producer of fish
through aquaculture in the world, next to China. The annual per caput fish
availability in the country is 9 kg, sustaining domestic market price of fish
over years. The annual export earnings from fish and shellfish is more than
Rs 6,700 crore, accounting for nearly 20% of the agricultural exports and
3% of the total exports. Producing about 4.7% of world’s fish, India trades
to the extent of 2.5% in the global fish market.
India is the home for more than 10% of global fish biodiversity, with
2,200 species of fish and shellfish, 1,440 of marine, 143 of brackishwater,
544 of freshwater and 73 of coldwater. The potential fish production from
marine and inland is estimated at 3.9 and 4.5 million tonnes, totalling to
8.4 million tonnes. Over 7 million people are directly engaged in different
fisheries and aquaculture activities in the country. The contribution of the
fisheries sector is estimated at around Rs 31,534 crore annually, amounting
to 1.4% to the GDP and 6.2% to the agricultural GDP. The annual growth
rate of marine fisheries during the IX Plan period was 2.1%, and that of
inland fisheries was 6.6%, with an average of 4.4%. The corresponding
projected rates during the X Plan are 2.5%, 8.0% and 5.4%.
With varied agro-ecological zones, the country possesses immense
potential ranging from marine fisheries to coldwater fisheries in mountains
including coastal aquaculture, riverine fisheries and pond aquaculture. The
aquaculture practices of integrated fish farming, inland saline aquaculture,
ornamental fish culture and prawn farming are highly compatible with other
farming systems and flexible with regard to scale of operations, both in size
and investments. Globally, aquaculture is recognized as an important tool
Deputy Director-General (Fisheries), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi

Anusandhan Bhawan II, New Delhi 110 012
for ensuring domestic nutritional security and rural development. A virtual

blue revolution is happening in the country; with states like Andhra
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana taking to aquaculture in a big way, along with
West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. Thus fisheries and aquaculture have
become important enterprises across the country, in both the coastal and
inland states, for adding to food basket, to employment generation as well
as economy of different regions.
MARINE FISHERIES
The marine fisheries resources of the country are in terms of 8,129
km long coast line, 0.5 million sq. km of continental shelf and 2.02
million sq. km of exclusive economic zone. Contributed by major fish
species like oil sardine, mackerel, bombay duck, pomfrets, shrimp, the
catches have gone up from 0.53 million tonnes in 1951 to 2.99 million
tonnes in 2004.
The fish production from the open-seas has stagnated since the last
decade, and marine fisheries is still restricted to nearshore areas. Against
estimated potential of 3.9 million tonnes, the sector has already reached 2.99
million tonnes mark, thus leaving a balance resource of around one million
tonnes for deeper waters and oceanic zone. To fish those resources for
increasing fish production from marine sector, the industry needs ocean-going
vessels and highly sophisticated on-board facilities which are capital-intensive.
The strategies proposed for marine fisheries management are regulated and
diversified fishing, targeting under-exploited and non-conventional resources
of the exclusive economic zone, identification of potential fishing zones, stock
enhancement through sea ranching, installation of fish aggregating devices
and artificial reefs, community-based resource management, responsible
fishing including closed seasons and mesh regulations, assessment and
exploitation of resources available around Islands and infrastructural support
in terms of deep-sea vessels, on-board and on-shore facilities.
Open-sea farming or mariculture is an alternative, being proposed to
stagnating marine fish production, by utilizing vast areas of lagoons and
bays available along the Indian coast, that have a good potential of finfish
and shellfish species, seaweeds, sea cucumber, etc., for which eco-friendly
hatchery and grow-out systems are being developed. Seed production and
culture of shrimps, Penaeus monodon, Penaeus indicus and Penaeus
semisulcatus; soft-shelled crab, Scylla serrata and sea crab, Portunus pelagicus
have become economic enterprises. Lobsters and sea cucumbers with export
market are the prime species for sea ranching and farming in coming years.
Sea bass and groupers have been identified as important candidates for
finfish culture, with excellent possibilities of cage culture. The estimated
production potential from mariculture is about one million tonne with high
value species.
Marine ornamental fishes are a valued resource of the country’s marine
biodiversity. Nearly 200 species of ornamental fishes such as sturgeon fish,
trigger fish, butterfly fish, wrasses, squirrel fish, goat fish, damsel fish,
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 101
parrot fish, rock cod, lizard fish, cardinal fish, file fish, angels, rabbit fish,
puffer fish, along with corals and echinoderms have been recorded around
Lakshadweep islands. Damsel fish, clown fish and sea horse have been
bred indoors with commercial propositions.
Molluscan culture is a major diversification, happening in the sector.
Edible oyster farming is spreading fast with women self-help groups
involved in this small-scale aquaculture enterprise. Mussel farming provides
for food and employment to a large number of people living along the
coasts. Marine pearl culture using Pinctada fucata has become an industry
in the country with round pearls and also the images being produced.
Cultivation of agar-yielding seaweeds is another economic enterprise.
The marine environment provides immense biodiversity that is being
catalogued for commercial use. This includes several microorganisms, algal
forms, invertebrates, that can serve as the potential sources of bioactive
substances including antimicrobials, anaesthetics, anticarcinogens, etc. as
well a wealth of valuable genetic materials for transgenics, and thus present
a huge opportunity for both Foods and Drugs from the sea. Identification
of suitable sites along the Indian coast line of over 8,000 km, hatcheries
and grow-out systems for finfish, shellfish and other organisms, possibilities
of cage culture in island ecosystems are the strategies for realizing these
potentials.
Research thrusts in the next five years pertain to studies in shelf, slope
and oceanic realms of the EEZ to assess and map resource potentials,
upgradation of mariculture technologies, socio-techno-economic aspects of
marine fisheries and brackishwater aquaculture, design and fabrication of
modern fuel-efficient fishing vessels, development of cost-effective and
responsible fish-harvesting systems, diversification and value-addition for
utilization of low-value fishes and quality assurance and management
systems.
INLAND FISHERIES
India is blessed with huge inland water resources in terms of 29,000
km of rivers, 0.3 million hectares of estuaries, 0.19 million hectares of
backwaters and lagoons, 3.15 million hectares of reservoirs, 0.2 million
hectares of floodplain wetlands and 0.72 million hectares of upland lakes.
The annual fish production from these waters is about 0.8 million tonnes,
mainly comprising carps and catfishes. The rivers provide one of the richest
fish faunal resources of the world.
The reservoirs form the largest inland fisheries resources in terms of
resource size; with 56 large reservoirs (>5,000 ha), 180 medium reservoirs
(1,000-5,000 ha) and 19,134 small reservoirs covering water area of 1.14
million hectares, 0.527 million hectares and 1.485 million hectares. The
average national production level obtained from small reservoirs of the
country is about 50 kg/ha/year, and the technologies of stocking reservoirs
with fish fingerlings for achieving higher production levels are available.
Floodplain wetlands or beels are other potential fisheries resources in
Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, which offer tremendous scope for culture
and capture fisheries, with production levels of 100-150 kg/ha/year.
FRESHWATER AQUACULTURE
Carps form the mainstay of culture practice in the country, which is
supported by the strong traditional knowledge base and scientific inputs in
various aspects of management, and contribute as much as 87% of the total
aquaculture production. The three Indian major carps catla (Catla catla),
rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) contribute as much as
2.4 million tonnes. Two technologies of ‘Induced fish breeding’ and
‘Composite carp culture’ have brought about ‘blue revolution’ or
‘aquaplosion’ in the country in the last two decades.
The private enterprise in over 700 hatcheries is of a high order in the
country, producing over 19 billion carp fry, and West Bengal and Assam
produce more than their requirement. With the adoption of technology of
carp polyculture or composite carp culture, the mean production levels from
the still-water ponds of the country have gone up to over 2.2 tonnes/ha/
year, and several farmers are even demonstrating higher production levels
of 8-12 tonnes/ha/year.
The different culture systems that have been standardized with
optimum achievable production rates are composite carp culture (4-6
tonnes/ha/year), sewage-fed fish culture (3-5 tonnes/ha/year), weed-based
carp polyculture (3-4 tonnes/ha/year), biogas slurry-fed fish culture (3-5
tonnes/ha/year), integrated fish farming with poultry, pigs, ducks,
horticulture, etc. (3-5 tonnes/ha/year), intensive pond culture with
supplementary feeding and aeration (10-15 tonnes/ha/year), pen culture (3-
5 tonnes/ha/year), cage culture (10-15 kg/m2/year) and running-water fish
culture (20-50 kg/m2/year). Catfish, freshwater prawn and ornamental fish
species have provided for the diversification of practices in freshwater
aquaculture.
Clarias batrachus (magur) and Heteropneustes fossilis (singhi) are two
air-breathing catfishes that have received attention over the years, though
commercial culture of these species is yet to start. Researches with regard
to development of grow-out technologies of several other non-air breathing
catfishes Mystus seenghala, M. aor, Pungasius pungasius, Wallago attu, Ompak
pabda are given greater importance in recent years due to their high
consumer reference in different parts of the country.
The success in breeding and larval rearing of giant freshwater prawn
Macrobrachium rosenbergii and Indian river prawn M. malcolmsonii and
assured supply of seeds of these species have provided scope for farmers to
diversify cultural practices into more rewarding farming systems.
Monoculture of M. rosenbergii has shown production levels of 1.0-1.5
tonnes/ha in a culture period of 7-8 months. During the last three to four
years, the freshwater prawn farming sector has witnessed quite impressive
growth; recorded a production of over 30,000 tonnes in 2002-03 from
about 35,000 ha water area, mostly by this species. As in case of carps,
Andhra Pradesh dominates the sector with over 85% of total production
of the country from about 60% of water area under prawn farming. At
present, there are 35 freshwater prawn hatcheries established mainly in the
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, producing about 200 million seeds
per annum.
BRACKISHWATER AQUACULTURE
Brackishwater aquaculture in India though is an age-old practice in
bheries of West Bengal and pokkali fields of Kerala, but the modern and
scientific brackishwater farming in the country is only a decade old. The
country possesses huge brackishwater resources of over 1.2 million hectares
suitable for farming. However, the total area under cultivation is just over
13% of the potential water area available, i.e. 157,400 ha (2001-2002).
Shrimp is the single commodity that contributes almost the total production
of the sector. The production levels of shrimp recorded marked increase
from 28,000 tonnes in 1988-89 to 115,000 tonnes in 2002-2003. The
black tiger prawn Penaeus monodon contributes lion’s share. The other
shrimp species being cultivated are P. indicus, P. penicillatus, P. merguiensis,
P. semisulcatus and Metapenaeus sp. Culture of crab species like Scylla serrata
and S. tranquebarica has also been taken up by a few entrepreneurs. Besides,
there are several other finfish species viz., Mugil cephalus, Liza parsia, L.
macrolepis, L. tade, Chanos chanos, Lates calcarifer, Etroplus suratensis
and Epinephelus tauvina, which possess great potential for farming,
though commercial production of these species is yet to be taken up in the
country.
The studies on maturation and breeding of shrimps were initiated by
the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in the early 70s, and later
by the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture. At present about 226
shrimp hatcheries (about 90% in private sector) are operational with a total
production capacity of 12 billion post larvae-20/year. Though the
brackishwater farming in India is an old practice, the scientific and
commercial aquaculture is mainly of shrimps; owing to high export
potential of shrimps. Demonstration of semi-intensive farming technology
at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, showing high returns, coupled with credit
facilities from commercial banks and subsidies from MPEDA, helped
development of shrimp farming. The semi-intensive culture practices with
black tiger prawn demonstrated production levels of 3-4 tonnes/ha in a crop
of 4-5 months.
Production of shrimps is mainly contributed by small farms. It has
been estimated that about 91% of the shrimp farmers in the country have
a holding of less than 2 ha, and 6% between 2 to 5 ha
FISHERIES EXPORTS
Indian exports are nearly five lakh tonnes every year, valued at over
Rs 7,000 crore. More than 12% of fish landings are exported, comprising
32% shrimp, 68% lobster, 13% crabs and 75% molluscans like mussels and
oysters. The exports are largely of shrimp, the break-up in terms of value
being 64% of frozen shrimp, 11% of frozen fish, 7% of cuttle fish and 7%
of squids. The export destinations are Japan to tune of 18% of the total
exports, 23% to the USA, 28% to the European Union and 10% to China.
India has global competitiveness in shrimp and carps, with potentials in
trout, catfish, oysters, mussels, cephalopods and ornamental fishes.
Technological developments in fish processing have led to the production
of a large number of value-added products, apart from the traditional
methods of drying and freezing, such as individual quick frozen foods,
accelerated freeze-dried products, heat processed products, extruded
products, battered and breaded products, fish mince and mince and mince-
based products, surimi and surimi-based products. A large number of
byproducts like isinglass, shark fin ray, squaline, chitosan, glucosamine
hydrochloride, gelatin and collagen are high-value products from wastes in
fisheries. The products are being diversified in terms of surimi and ready-
to-eat products, and markets are also being enlarged in the recent years. The
industry is also well equipped to address emerging issues of the residues in
the processed products, SPS measures and other standards being applied
from the importing countries.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PARTNERS

The public sector has been contributing to the growth in fisheries, in
research, education, extension, as also in development through Fish Farmers’
Development Agencies (FFDAs) and Brackishwater Development Agencies
(BFDAs), fishing harbours and jettys. The private sector is involved in a
big way in boat building, fish-net making, fishing and fish processing, with
over 1,800 boat building yards, 400 fish-net making plants, 297,000 fishing
boats operating on the Indian coasts, 1,500 registered exporters,
362 freezing plants, five canning and 12 fish-meal plants. Most of the fish-
seed production, whether of carps or shrimp, is with the private sector and
in the recent past, it has taken to fish-feed manufacture and disease
diagnostics.
Disaster management and rehabilitation in fisheries and aquaculture,
whether in cyclones, floods or tsunami, was organized by the NGOs in a
big way in the recent years.
In the context of high growth rates in the sector, issues that have
emerged pertain to unregulated fisheries in open-waters like seas and rivers,
seed quality and required quantities in different regions, dependence on a
few species and need for diversification, uncontrolled introduction of exotic
species and absence of an effective quarantine mechanism, low feed
utilization, lack of proper cold chains and unhygienic markets. Lack of
captive breeding technique in shrimp has been a major problem in
brackishwater aquaculture, which is operating on almost a single species of
shrimp. Quality assurance in fishery products is an R&D issue to be
addressed. There exists a great scope for integrating aquaculture with
tourism.
POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIPS
Potential partnerships in fisheries and aquaculture could be categorized

into Public-Public, Public-Private and Private-Private. Aspects of fisheries
management in open-waters (seas and the rivers), quality assurance in fish
landing centres of harbours and jettys, seed certification and greater
applications of biotechnology in aquaculture call for greater Public-Public
partnerships; among different institutions in the ICAR, Universities and
Development Departments.
Public-Private partnerships can address areas of deep-sea fishing, open-
sea cage farming, seed certification, feeds, diagnostics and facilitation of
processes of technology incubation and access to facilities by the students
in the above areas. Issues of evaluation and introduction of exotic fish and
shellfish species, particularly the ornamental fishes, reservoir fisheries
management, markets and cold chains and market intelligence can also be
effectively addressed in this mode. Manufacture of fishing boats and nets,
aquaculture implements and establishment of aqua-shops, as a single
window facility for aquaculture inputs, as also aqua-tourism stand for
profitable Private-Private partnerships.
The fisheries and aquaculture sector in the country is poised to play a
major role in the lives of the people in the coming decades with increasing
population pressure on the land and alternative food production systems
being increasingly projected from the aquatic resources. The challenges can
be faced better with partnerships at different levels to make the blue
revolution a reality.
18
Small Bugs, Big Business
Ratul Saikia1 and Dilip K. Arora2
Today we face many critical issues in agriculture: (i) An exponentially

growing human population; (ii) Recurrent famine in many developing/
underdeveloped countries; (iii) Destruction of natural landscapes such as
tropical rain forests to extend agriculture to previously unused lands; (iv)
The exodus of human civilization from rural communities to cities; (v) The
destruction of environmental quality resulting from exposure to
agrochemicals, erosion of soils and salinization of soils as well as exhaustion
and contamination of freshwater resources; (vi) Loss of biodiversity through
monocropping and destruction of natural habitats; (vii) Reliance of
agricultural production, transport and storage systems on fossil fuel; (viii)
Acquisition and concentration of agricultural wealth by multinational
corporations; and (ix) An issuant lack of knowledge by a growing
proportion of human civilization on how to cultivate, prepare and preserve
food. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has
predicted that agricultural productivity in the world will be able to sustain
growing human population by 2030 but hundreds of millions of people in
the developing countries will remain hungry and environmental problems
caused by agriculture will remain serious. By 2025, 83% of the expected
global population of 8.5 billion will be in the developing world. The social
consequences are obvious. Food is the basic human need and right. How
can we sustain the food needs of the earth’s biotic community in the 21st
century and beyond while preserving environmental quality and diversity
and quality of the life on the earth? What solutions can microbial
agricultural biotechnology provide to address these problems?
Disciplinary crossovers of biochemistry, genetics, microbiology,
nutritional sciences, engineering and emergence of microbial agricultural
biotechnology have set the stage for reconsidering the paradigm of
agriculture from traditional breeding of food plants. The strongest impact
on agriculture in this area has occurred after the discovery of in-vitro genetic
engineering and use of transgenic plants. Microbial agricultural
1
Scientist, Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR), Jorhat 785 006, Assam
2
Director, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, PB No. 6, Kusumaur,
Mau 275 101 (Uttar Pradesh)
SMALL BUGS, BIG BUSINESS 107
biotechnology as a new era, 20 years into its development, is also showing

its positive impacts in agricultural production and new food crops.
Thus we can expect many new developments with regard to this field
in the next decade. Furthermore, despite public concern about transgenic
crops, the global adoption of transgenic crops continues to increase,
particularly in the United States, where 74.8 million acres were planted with
transgenic crops including corn, soybean, cotton and canola in 2002. This
represented about 50% of the total soybean and cotton acreage planted in
that year. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech
Applications predicts that world market for genetically engineered plants
will be US$8 billion in 2005 and US$25 billion by 2010 (http://
nature.biotech.com). Plant pathogens cause US$30-50 billion of loss
annually in crop productivity, thus justifying this investment in
biotechnological approaches to crop protection. The reduction in use of
the agrochemicals for disease control is another important incentive for this
technology. Japanese growers spend more than US$600 million a year to
control diseases on rice. Already, the reduction in insecticides use in China
through use of Bt transgenic crops has impacted farmer income and health.
Because microorganisms are small, they are least known, and this gap in
knowledge is particularly apparent for bacteria and other small organisms.
Current evidences suggest that perhaps 1.5 million species of fungi exist, yet
only 5% are described. For bacteria there may be 300,000 to 1 million species
on earth yet, only 3,100 bacteria are described in Bergey’s Manual, the treatise
of described bacteria. A gram of typical soil contains about 1 billion bacteria,
but only 1% of those could be cultured. Similarly low fractions of
microorganisms have been cultured from freshwater and ocean environments.
Hence, most microbes yet remain to be discovered. Microorganisms
colonized earth a long time before humans did. They have been evolving for
nearly 4 billion years and are capable of exploiting a vast range of energy
sources and are thriving in almost every habitat. For 2 billion years, microbes
were the only form of life on earth. During this long history, all of the basic
biochemistries of life evolved, and all life-forms have developed from these
microbial ancestors. It is estimated that 50% of the living protoplasm on this
planet is microbial.
Microorganisms represent by far the richest repertoire of molecular
and chemical diversities in nature. They underlie the basic ecosystem
processes such as biogeochemical cycles and food-chains as well as maintain
vital and often elegant relationships between themselves and higher
organisms. Microbes provide fundamental underpinning of all ecosystems.
Without microorganisms, all life on earth would cease. Exposure to bacteria,
parasites, microbes and viruses has played an important role in human
evolution. The research of microorganism has, therefore, always been an
important branch of microbiology. The main focus lies on those
microorganisms, which play a role within soils and marine ecosystems.
Almost all material cycles on the earth are influenced by microbial processes
that occur within soils and marine environment. The climate of our planet
and its atmosphere is also largely dependent on these processes.
KNOWLEDGE IN MICROBIOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS
Modern Agricultural Biotechnology

Microbes dominate our world as plant and animal pathogens, as
sources of food and other useful products, and as critical components of
natural and agricultural ecosystems. Presently, they have contributed much
to the development of various industrial materials and processes, agri-food
commodities and human-health products. Thus, knowledge in microbiology
and its pursuit through modern agricultural biotechnology have led to
practical applications in broad sense to many spheres of human enterprise.
Microorganisms are primary degraders of organic materials, but can also
be pathogens and parasites of other microorganisms, invertebrates, plants
and animals. In food and drink arena microorganisms are historically
important as mushrooms, in fermented foods, and as yeasts for baking and
brewing. These roles are supplemented by the use of microorganisms to
provide food processing enzymes and additives, and more recently the
development of protein-based foodstuffs from filamentous microorganisms.
In agriculture and horticulture, certain mycorrhizal microorganisms may be
necessary for seed germination and plant health, or may be used as
biocontrol agents against weeds and invertebrates. Outside of the broader
food and agriculture areas, microorganisms have proved particularly
significant in pharmaceutical industry, where, since the discovery of
penicillin, many microbial metabolites have showed potentially exploitable
levels of biological activity. The degradative activities of microorganisms
have also been harnessed in programmes for bioremediation of
contaminated land, for treatment of industrial wastes, and for
biotransformation of specific compounds.
Microorganisms that serve tropical or temperate forests and serve as
mycorrhiza, endophytes, phytopathogens, entomopathogens, or simple
saprophytes to turn over biological matter are a significant and unknown
resource. This could be the source for many bioproducts including
secondary metabolites, antibiotics and catabolic enzymes of enormous
impact. Compared to terrestrial microorganisms, those in aquatic habitats
are some of the most neglected yet important in applied mycological and
biotechnological researches. Knowledge of microbial genomics is the area
for new pioneers of mycology, microbiology and allied sciences that are
worth exploration and mining.
An obvious group of foods in this cross-cut is the large-scale
production of fermented foods, edible mushrooms, so called single cell
proteins (SCP) and fermented beverages. Microbial agricultural
biotechnology in future will enjoy being the primary driver of world food
production technologies.
Microbes in Agriculture and Food Production

Microbes, which make-up most of the earth’s biomass, have evolved
for some 3.8 billion years. For thousands of years, microorganisms have been
used to supply us with products such as bread, beer, wine, distilled spirits,
vinegar, cheese, pickles and other fermented materials. The processes were
originally developed for preservation of fruits, vegetables and milk, but
developed into producing sophisticated products. A second phase of
biotechnology began during World War I which resulted in a quantum jump
in economic importance of microbes. In England, Chaim Weizmann
developed acetone-butanol fermentation and in Germany, the glycerol
fermentation was formulated by Neuberg. Both acetone and glycerol were
needed for manufacture of armaments to support war efforts of the respective
opposing nations. These events were followed after the war by the
development of fermentation, bioconversion and enzymatic processes
yielding many useful products with large annual markets. These included
amino acids, nucleotides, vitamins, organic acids, solvents, vaccines and
polysaccharides. Ever since the discovery of penicillin in 1929 and its
commercial development starting at the beginning of the World War II,
antibiotic molecules have had major beneficial effects on human and animal
health. In early 1970s, a phenomenal third phase began with the birth of
recombinant DNA technology. In the recent year, recombinant DNA
technology has impacted production of primary and secondary metabolites;
bioconversions playing a significant development, especially in the enzyme
industry.
Changes in functional features of the starting materials leading to food
products and processes are the other side to the microbial agricultural
biotechnology. It is expected that efforts in the public and private sectors
research establishments should provide new inputs for food production.
From various estimates, the values of sales of mycology-based products can
run into tens of billion of dollars, projected by this decade; certainly not an
insignificant figure.
In recent years much is emerging in developed countries of the world
that will serve as new learning opportunities in application of microbial
agricultural biotechnology for food and environment.
ORGANIC INGREDIENTS PRODUCTION
Fermented Foods and Beverage

Industrial yeasts are involved in production of many foods and drinks.
The edible products, cheese and bread and potable alcohol products, beer,
wine and spirits depend on yeast-based fermentations. The potential use of
various agri-food enzymes in processing raw materials for production of
novel foods and drinks represents an untapped resource for microbial
agricultural biotechnology.
Fermentation Technology
Yeasts (mainly Saccharomyces) have been used worldwide for brewing
and baking for thousands of years. Likewise, filamentous microorganisms
have been traditionally used for preparing mould-ripened cheeses (mainly
Penicillium spp.) in Europe and soybean-based fermented foods (mainly

Aspergillus spp.) in the Orient. On the other hand, edible mushrooms (such
as Agaricus) have been used worldwide for direct consumption since time
immemorial.
Microbial Pathogens and Mycotoxins

Thousands of microorganisms reduce or threaten availability and
safety of foods and agricultural products. Huge challenges are posed by
mycotoxins (aflatoxins), trichothecenes and fuminosins — that can be
addressed by microbial agricultural biotechnology. Identification of
mycotoxins biosynthesis and their genes, mycotoxin catabolism and
biotransformation and their genes could have tremendous value.
Saprophytic and pathogenic microorganisms are a major detriment to
freshness of fruits and vegetables and safety. Application of antimicrobial
peptides could significantly change our options in management of spoilage
microorganisms. A new avenue for applied research is the application of
genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics towards intervention with
microbial developmental genes for enhanced functionality, for controlled
ingredient delivery or for spoilage of foods. As the knowledge of the
regulation of the microbial gene expression advances, it is expected that
strains will be designed for expression of commodities of high impact in
the world trade.
Recent advances in diagnostic agricultural biotechnology have
revolutionized procedures used in identification of food microorganisms.
Biochemical identification assays have been miniaturized, and thorough
automation and uses of robotics have become faster, reliable and cost
affordable. Rapid identification of microorganisms and yeasts from foods
has become less cumbersome because of the ease in sequestering of target
microorganisms from food ingredients and interfering compounds. In
addition, biochemical tests which traditionally have been used in the
identification of yeasts and filamentous microorganisms have been greatly
aided by the introduction of the PCR technology.
AGRICULTURALLY IMPORTANT MICROORGANISMS
Besides above, the Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (AIMs)

play an important role in various applications.
• Microbial biotechnological applications in plant protection

- Marker-assisted breeding and map-based cloning of genes
- Role of microbes for development of transgenic plants for
better disease resistance and defense response
• Role of entomopathogenic microbes for development of
biopesticides
• Biotechnological potential of microbial alkaloids, enzymes, toxins
and antibiotics and biomicrobicides
• Use of microbes as plant-growth promoters and disease

suppressor
• Development of microherbicides for management of weeds
• Discovery and use of potential biocontrol agents against diseases
of economically important crop plants, vegetables and post-
harvest diseases
• Development of AM-based or other microbial based biofertilizers
• Use of microbes in agri-food industry e.g. anti-microbial food
additives, amino acids beverages, dairy products, digestive aids,
other ethnic foods and fermented food
• Commercial production of edible mushrooms
• Study of spoilage microorganisms in seed deterioration
• Discovery and use of microbes in degradation of cellulose, lignin
and other waste materials and bioconversion of distillery wastes
and dyes
• Biomineralization of heavy metals, bioremediation of degraded soils
• Commercial application of microbes in agriculture
• Microbes in brewing, bioactive metabolic caratenoid production
Useful Microbes and Agri-based Fermented Food

Acid fermented foods, Bread and pancakes, Fermented milk products,
Alcoholic food and beverages, Fruit-based beverages, Cereal-based
fermented foods, Legume-based fermented foods, Tuber crop-based
fermented foods, Fermented fish products\fermented meat products.
Food Production through Microbial/Biotechnological Applications

Amino acids, Beverages, Dairy products, Digestive aids, Dough,
Ethnic foods (kefir, koji, miso, tempeh, etc.), Food pigments, Food enzymes,
Mushrooms, Organic acids, Single-cell protein, Vitamins
Functions of Beneficial Microorganisms

Following are the beneficial functions of microorganisms. Fixation of
atmospheric nitrogen, Decomposition of organic wastes and residues,
Suppression of soil-borne pathogens, Recycling and increased availability
of plant nutrients, Degradation of toxicants including pesticides, Production
of antibiotics and other bioactive compounds, Production of simple organic
molecules for plant uptake, Complexation of heavy metals to limit plant
uptake, Solubilization of insoluble nutrient sources, Production of
polysaccharides to improve soil aggregation
Functions of Harmful Microorganisms

They are as follows. Induction of plant diseases, Stimulation of soil-
borne pathogens, Immobilization of plant nutrients, Inhibition of seed
germination, Inhibition of plant growth and development, Production of
phytotoxic substances
Cleaning-up Environmental Pollution

Pesticides or fertilizers, Toxic by-products of industrial processes that
yield a factory discharge or accidental industrial spillage, while others (e.g.
dioxin) are dangerous even at very low concentration in the environment,
Waste disposal or bioremediation, microorganisms that are known to be able
to degrade the pollutant, can be added to the contaminated soil or water,
or the contaminant can be flushed out of the soil into large tanks,
Phytoremediation and the rhizosphere microorganisms and Designer
microorganisms.
Microorganisms Producing Active Useful Biomolecules

These may be used for biotechnology or agriculture and food-based
industry such as follows.
Microbes used for baking and brewing, Ethanol/hydrocarbon
production, Hydrogen producing microbes, Drug production, Enzymes,
Bioactive polysaccharides and polysaccharopeptides, Lipids, Acids,
Caretenoids, Antibiotics, Fermented foods and feeds, Edible fungi, Flavours
and aroma, Food additives, Antitumor and antimodulatory compounds,
Microbes useful for developing vaccines against chronic diseases
Novel Microbes
• Other organisms that could be of great genetic and biochemical
interest are present in extreme surface environments but are almost
impossible to grow in the laboratory.
• To identify and determine the abundance and activity of novel
hard-to-cultivate organisms in two extreme surface environments.
• These collections offer a rich resource for identifying and isolating
novel species with potentially unique sets of genes as well as
proteins with environmental, energy, biotechnological and other
applications.
MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND FOOD PROCESSES

In food production, enzymes have many advantages and they are
welcomed as alternatives to traditional chemical-based technology, and can
replace synthetic chemicals in many processes. This can allow real advances
in environmental performance of production processes, through lower energy
consumption and biodegradability; they are also more specific in their action
than synthetic chemicals. Processes which use enzymes, therefore, have a
fewer side reactions and waste by-products, giving higher quality products
and reducing likelihood of pollution; they allow some processes to be
carried out which would otherwise be impossible. An example is the
production of clear apple juice concentrate, which relies on use of pectinase
(Table 1).
During fermentation processes, microbial growth and metabolism (the
biochemical processes whereby complex substances and food are broken
down into simple substances) result in the production of a diversity of
Table 1. Some uses of enzymes in food production

Market Enzyme Purpose / function
Dairy Rennet (protease) Coagulant in cheese production
Lactase Hydrolysis of lactose to give lactose-free
milk products
Protease Hydrolysis of whey proteins
Catalases Removal of hydrogen peroxide
Brewing Cellulases, beta-glucanases, For liquefaction, clarification and to
alpha-amylases, proteases, supplement malt enzymes
maltogenic amylases
Alcohol Amyloglucosidase Conversion of starch to sugar
production
Baking Alpha-amylases Breakdown of starch, maltose production
Amyloglycosidases Saccharification
Maltogen amylase (Novamyl) Delays process by which bread becomes
stale
Protease Breakdown of proteins
Pentosanase Breakdown of pentosans, leading to
reduced gluten production
Glucose oxidase Stability of dough
Wine and Pectinase Increase of yield and juice clarification
fruit juice Glucose oxidase Oxygen removal
Beta-glucanases
Meat Protease Meat tenderizing
Papain
Protein Proteases, trypsin, Breakdown of various components
aminopeptidases
Starch Alpha-amylase, glucoamylases, Modification and conversion (e.g. to
hemicellulases, maltogenic dextrose or high fructose syrups)
amylases, glucose isomerases
dextranases, beta-glucanases
Inulin Inulinases Production of fructose syrups
metabolites (products of the metabolism of these complex substances).

These metabolites include enzymes which are capable of breaking down
carbohydrates, proteins and lipids present within the substrate and/or
fermentation medium; vitamins; antimicrobial compounds (e.g. bacteriocins
and lysozyme); texture-forming agents (e.g. xanthan gum); amino acids;
organic acids (e.g. citric acid, lactic acid) and flavour compounds (e.g. esters
and aldehydes). Many of these microbial metabolites (e.g. flavour
compounds, amino acids, organic acids, enzymes, xanthan gums, alcohol
etc.) are produced at the industrial level in both developed and developing
countries for the use in food-processing applications. A considerable volume
of current research both in academia and in industry targets application of
microbial biotechnology to improve production, quality and yields of these
metabolites. Fermentation is globally applied in preservation of a range of
raw agricultural materials. Commercially produced fermented foods which
are marketed globally include dairy products (cheese, yogurt, fermented
milks), sausages and soy sauce. Certain microorganisms associated with
fermented foods, in particular, strains of the Lactobacillus species, are
probiotic, i.e. used as live microbial dietary supplements or food ingredients
that have a beneficial effect on the host by influencing the composition and/
or metabolic activity of the flora of the gastrointestinal tract.
In developing countries, fermented foods are produced primarily at
the household and village levels. Microorganisms and metabolic pathways
associated with the production of fermented foods are the subject of
considerable research, targeting strain isolation and identification;
improvement of the efficiency of fermentation processes and the quality,
safety and consistency of fermented foods.
IMPORTANCE OF MICROORGANISMS USED IN INDUSTRY

Although microbes are extremely good in presenting us with an
amazing array of valuable products, they usually produce them only in
amounts that they need for their own benefit; thus they tend not to over
produce their metabolites The fermentation microbiologist, however, desires
a ‘wasteful’ strain which overproduces and excretes a particular compound
that can be isolated and marketed. Once a desired strain is found, a
development program is begun to improve titres by modification of cultural
conditions, mutation and recombinant DNA technology. The
microbiologist actually modifies regulatory controls remaining in the
original culture so that its ‘inefficiency’ can be further increased, and the
microorganism excretes tremendous amounts of these valuable products into
the medium. The main reason for the use of microorganisms to produce
compounds that can otherwise be isolated from plants and animals or
synthesized by chemists is the ease of increasing production by
environmental and genetic manipulation. Thousand fold increases have been
recorded for small metabolites. Of course, the higher the specific level of
the production, the simpler is the job of the product isolation.
Molecular methodologies, commonly the PCR, ribotyping (a method
to determine homologies and differences between bacteria at the species or
sub-species (strain) level), RFLP analysis of rRNA genes and pulsed-field
gel electrophoresis (PFGE), can be used to characterize and monitor the
presence of spoilage flora, normal flora and microflora in foods. RAPD or
AFLP molecular marker systems can also be used for the comparison of
genetic differences between species, subspecies and strains, depending on
the reaction conditions used. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies can also
be used for diagnostics, e.g. in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
kits. Microarrays are biosensors which consist of a large number of parallel
hybrid receptors (DNA, proteins, oligonucleotides). They can be used for
detection of pathogens, pesticides and toxins and can offer considerable
potential for facilitating process control, the control of fermentation processes
and monitoring of the quality and safety of the raw materials.
MICROBIAL GENOMICS AND FOOD PRODUCTION

In recent years, genome sequences of many food-related
microorganisms have been completed (e.g. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the first
eukaryote to have its genome sequenced - in 1996), and large numbers of
microbial genome sequencing projects are also underway (see http://

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Genome for an update).
Functional genomics, a relatively new area of research, aims to determine
the patterns of gene expression and interaction in genome, based on the
knowledge of extensive or complete genomic sequences of an organism. It
can provide an understanding of how microorganisms respond to
environment at the genetic level (i.e. by expressing specific genes) in
different situations or ecologies, and should, therefore, allow adaptation of
conditions to improve technological processes. For a range of
microorganisms, it is now possible to observe expression of many genes
simultaneously, even those with unknown biological functions, as they are
switched on and off during normal development or while an organism
attempts to cope with pathogens or changing environment. Functional
genomics can shed light on the common genetic mechanisms which enable
microorganisms to use certain sugars during fermentation, as well as on the
genetic differences allowing some strains to perform better than others. It
holds great potential for defining and modifying elusive metabolic
mechanisms used by the microorganisms. Moving from gene to protein
level, it should also be mentioned that proteomics, an approach aiming to
identify and characterize complete sets of proteins, and protein-protein
interactions in a given species, is also a very active area of research, which
offers potential for improving fermentation technologies. The industrial
production of enzymes from microorganisms involves culturing
microorganisms in huge tanks where enzymes are secreted into fermentation
medium as metabolites of microbial activity. Enzymes thus produced are
extracted, purified and used in the food industry and for other applications.
Purified enzymes are cell-free entities and do not contain any other
macromolecules such as DNA.
Through protein engineering, it is possible to generate novel enzymes
with modified structures that confer novel desired properties such as
improved activity or thermostability or ability to work on a new substrate
or at a higher pH. Directed evolution is one of the main methods, currently
used for protein engineering. This technique involves creating large
numbers of new enzyme variants by random genetic mutation and
subsequently screening them to identify improved variants.
RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRIES

Many enzymes are produced by using gene technology (Table 2).
Biopharmaceuticals (recombinant protein drugs, vaccines and monoclonal
antibodies) have a market of US$15 billion; in the US alone, there are
about 1,600 biotechnology companies, employing 153,000 people, with a
total revenue of US$19.6 billion and sales of US$13.4 billion. Europe has
almost 1,200 companies, 45 000 employees and revenue of US$3.7 billion;
the UK and Germany are the major players. Japanese biotechnology has
been conducted predominantly in major pharmaceutical, food and beverage
companies with only a few small biotechnology companies in existence.
Table 2. Some enzymes produced using gene technology
Principal enzyme activity Application

Alpha-acetolactate decarboxylase Brewing
Alpha-amylase Baking, brewing, distilling, starch
Catalase Mayonnaise
Chymosin Cheese
Beta-glucanase Brewing
Alpha-glucanotransferase Starch
Glucose isomerase Starch
Glucose oxidase Baking, egg mayonnaise
Hemicellulase Baking
Lipase Fats, oils
Maltogenic amylase Baking, starch
Microbial rennet Dairy
Phytase Starch
Protease Baking, brewing, diary, distilling, fish,
meat, starch, vegetable
Pullulanase Brewing, starch
Xylanase Baking, starch
The most well-known products of the modern biotechnology industry

are the mammalian polypeptides such as erythropoietin (EPO) with US$2.9
billion market; interferon-a, with US$1.6 billion; human growth hormone
(HGH; human somatotropin), with US$1.1 billion; human insulin, with
US$1 billion; granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) with US$720
million; and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) with US$290 million.
Another important product is recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (US$725
million). These polypeptides are mainly made in bacteria such as Escherchia
coli (US$2.9 billion) and mammalian cell culture (US$3.3 billion), but yeasts,
filamentous fungi and insect cells are also important. In very near future,
it is expected that many products will be made in transgenic animals
and plants. Recombinant DNA technology has revolutionized agriculture;
where, in 1998, the farm market included insect-resistant corn,
potato, soybean; herbicide-resistant canola, cotton, soybean and corn; virus-
resistant squash; and canola containing speciality oils and tomato with
increased pectin.
Scientist as well as enzyme companies, realizing that their products
were encoded by single genes, rapidly adopted recombinant DNA techniques
to increase enzyme production and to make new enzymes. As the result,
today’s industrial enzyme market has annual sales of US$1.6 billion with
applications in food and starch processing (45%), detergents (34%), textiles
(11%), leather (3%) and pulp and paper (1.2%). The protease subtilisin,
which is used in washing powders, accounts for US$200 million of this
market. Over 60% of these enzymes are recombinant products. Significant
markets exist for speciality enzymes such as recombinant chymosin for cheese-
making (US$140 million), restriction enzymes for molecular techniques
(US$100 million) and Taq polymerase for PCR applications (US$80
million). A huge market (US$2.3 billion) exists for therapeutic enzymes.
Recombinant DNA technology has been applied to antibiotics

production. Many genes encoding individual enzymes of antibiotic
biosynthesis have been cloned and expressed at high levels in heterologous
microorganisms. Antibiotic biosynthetic pathways are often encoded by
clustered chromosomal genes, especially in bacteria, which facilitate transfer
of an entire pathway in a single manipulation. Even in fungi, pathway genes
are sometimes clustered, such as the penicillin biosynthesis genes in
Penicillium.
The most industrially important primary metabolites are amino acids,
nucleotides, vitamins, solvents and organic acids. Millions of tonnes of amino
acids are produced each year with a total multibillion dollar market. Many
synthetic vitamins production processes are being replaced by microbial
fermentations. In addition to the multiple reaction sequences of the
fermentations, microorganisms are extremely useful in carrying out
biotransformation processes. These are becoming essential to fine chemical
industry in production of single-isomer intermediates. Secondary metabolites
produced by microorganisms are extremely important to our health and
nutrition. They have tremendous economic importance. The antibiotic
market amounts to almost 30 billion dollars and includes about 160
antibiotics and derivatives such as b-lactam peptide antibiotics, the macrolide
polyketide erythromycin, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides and others. Other
important pharmaceutical products produced are hypocholesterolemic agents,
enzyme inhibitors, immunosuppressants and antitumor compounds; some
having markets of over 1 billion dollars per year. The modern biotechnology
industry has made a major impact in the business world, biopharmaceuticals
(recombinant protein drugs, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies) with a
market of US$15 billion. Recombinant DNA technology has markedly
increased markets for microbial enzymes. Molecular manipulations have been
added to mutational techniques as means of increasing titres and yields of
microbial processes and in discovery of new drugs. Today, microbiology is
a major participant in global industry. The best is yet to come as microbes
move into environmental and energy sectors.
MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOREMEDIATION

Bioremediation is use of biological agents, bacteria, fungi and plants
to remove, degrade or detoxify pollutants from contaminated environmental
sites. Scientists are identifying naturally occurring organisms that may be
useful for bioremediation. They are also genetically modifying these as a
way to expand list of treatable contaminants and to maximize their
efficiency and safety. Bioremediation encompasses both commercial/
industrial and governmental market places. The risk of exposure plus
severity of the exposure itself is the principal factor in determining
remediation standards. Risk assessments are based upon the proposed uses
of the property upon which the contamination is discovered. Changed uses
or changing scientific health data regarding danger associated with
particular exposures may also change remediation standards.
MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
For socio-economic development, some important points should be

fullfilled. These are: (1) characterization of production system for crop
intensification; (2) nutrient management; (3) waterlogging and land
degradation; (4) farmers’ perception about improved technologies; (5)
assessment of financial and economic feasibility of improved technologies;
(6) constraints to adoption of improved technologies; and (7) modelling
to extrapolate research information.
Biotechnological research as applied to the bioprocessing in majority
of the developing countries, targets development and improvement of
traditional fermentation processes. Some areas specifically relevant to
developing countries which can be summarized are as follows- a. Socio-
economic and cultural factors- Traditional fermentation processes employed in
most developing countries are low input, appropriate food processing
technologies with minimal investment requirements. They make use of locally
produced raw materials and are an integral part of the village life. These
processes are, however, often uncontrolled, unhygienic and inefficient and
generally result in products of variable quality and short shelf-life. Fermented
foods, nevertheless, find wider consumer acceptance in developing countries
and contribute substantially to food security and nutrition; b. Infrastructural
and logistical factors- Physical infrastructural requirements for manufacture,
distribution and storage of microbial cultures or enzymes on a continuous
basis is generally available in urban areas of many developing countries.
However, this is not in most rural areas of the developing countries. Should
research be oriented to ensure that individuals at all levels can benefit from
applications of biotechnology in food fermentation processes, i.e. should
logistical arrangements for starter culture development be integrated into
biotechnological research targeting improvement of traditional
fermentations? What is required for the level of fermentation technologies
and process controls to be upgraded to increase efficiency, yields and the
quality and safety of fermented foods in the developing countries? c. Nutrition
and food safety- Fermentation processes enhance nutritional value of foods
through biosynthesis of vitamins, essential amino acids and proteins, through
improving protein and fibre digestibility; enhancing micronutrient
bioavailability and degrading antinutritional factors. Many bacteria in
fermented foods also exhibit functional properties (probiotics). The safety of
fermented food products is enhanced through reduction of toxic compounds
such as mycotoxins and cyanogenic glucosides, and production of
antimicrobial factors such as bacteriocins, carbon-dioxide, hydrogen peroxide
and ethanol, which facilitate inhibition or elimination of food-borne
pathogens. Are the nutritional characteristics (and safety aspects) of
fermented foods adequately documented and appreciated in developing
countries? Is there a need for consumer education about the benefits of
fermented foods? d. Intellectual property rights (IPRs)- The processes used in
more advanced areas of agricultural biotechnology tend to be covered by
IPRs, and these rights tend to be owned by the parties in developed countries.
This applies also to biotechnology processes used in food processing. On the

other hand, many of the traditional fermentation processes applied in
developing countries are based on traditional knowledge.
In addition to biotechnology processes, microbial strains may also be
the objects of IPRs. Many of the microorganisms associated with traditional
fermentation processes in developing countries are unique. Issues of
ownership will become increasingly important as bacterial strains are
characterized and starter cultures are developed in developing countries.
How should food scientists, researchers, industry and governments in
developing countries approach these issues? A considerable volume of
research into the development and improvement of fermentation processes
is currently taking place worldwide. Are research results from developing
countries adequately documented? Who owns this information? Are cell
banks being developed to protect microbial strains characterized in
developing countries? e. Commercial opportunities- biotechnological
innovations have greatly assisted in industrializing production of certain
indigenous fermented foods. The results of biotechnology research will lead
to fermented foods of improved quality, safety and consistency. Should
biotechnology developments in developing countries target
commercialization? Should they target diversification into new value-added
products? f. Appropriateness of food processing biotechnology in developing
countries- As with any commitment of resources, investments in
biotechnology for food processing should be weighed up against other
potential uses of these resources in developing countries. How relevant and
worthwhile can such investments be for the developing countries?
Knowledge of the genomes of the agricultural microorganisms is
expected to underpin future advances in the agriculture into the next quarter
century. It is anticipated that microbial genomics will lead to an accelerated
understanding of beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms that will lead
to more rapid advances in metabolic engineering, development of sensitive
and specific diagnostic tools, marketing of improved therapeutics and
efficacious vaccines, and conversion of agricultural materials into high-value
products such as fuels and chemicals. The modern biotechnology industry
will be made to play a major role in the world’s business. However, some
issues like socio-economic and cultural factors, infrastructural and logistical
factors, nutrition and food safety, intellectual property rights, commercial
opportunities, appropriateness of food processing biotechnology in
developing countries will arise, and these issues should be overcome.
19
Public - Private Partnership in
Mechanizing Indian Agriculture for
Second Green Revolution
M.M. Mehta
In the First Green Revolution, the growth in the farm power (tractors,
engines, motors, etc) played its supporting role magnificently, as it enabled
farmers to:
- Achieve important factor of timeliness of field operations for
maximizing yield potentials of HYV seeds.
- Provide timely irrigation to crops with tractor PTO powered
pumps without awaiting power supply.
- Hasten on-farm crop threshing and bagging of grains to save
harvest from vagaries of nature.
- Quickly transport harvest for sales to adjoining mandis of
choice.
- Prepare vacated land for the next crop – to achieve gains in
cropping-intensity.
- The Net Gain from this phase of tractorization, being gain in
production and productivity.
The Second Green Revolution requires that:
- We service specific needs of each and every agroclimatic zone/
State, be it plains or hills, be it grains or horticulture, be it
flowers or vegetables, etc.
- We optimize use of each input for further gains in
productivity and production for achieving rural prosperity and
global competitiveness.
The move from tractorization to farm mechanization for the second
green revolution requires developing crop-wise implements and equipment
for mechanizing total crop production cycle. For example, to mechanize,
develop:
• Equipment/implements for planting, interculture, harvesting,
transport of vegetables, pineapples, etc.
Ex-Vice-President, M/s Escorts Tractors Ltd, 1179, Sector 15, Faridabad 121 007 (Haryana)
PUBLIC - PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN MECHANIZING INDIAN AGRICULTURE 121
• Equiment/implements for planting, interculture, harvesting and

haulage of cotton, sugarcane, pulses, oilseeds, etc.
• Suitable power-units and matching implements for hill agriculture
and wetlands.
• Equipment giving consideration to operator safety, comfort and
other ergonomic factors (including gender considerations).
• Equipment for value-addition to harvest for additive rural
employment and rural prosperity.
For the above to be achieved in the shortest time-span to provide well-
designed and mass-produced good-quality products, backed by dependable
after-sales service, it will make national and commercial sense to:
• Draw upon existing national resources in public and private
domains.
• Develop a formal and transparent structure for adopting R&D
mandates, protecting IPRs, technology fees and service rates, etc.
At present annual investment in India on agri-machinery including
tractors, power-tillers, combine-harvesters, straw-choppers, tillers and
cultivators, engines, irrigation pumps and sprinklers, plant-protection
equipment is estimated to be more than Rs 50,000 crore. This level needs
to be increased considerably for profitable farming. And the power
availability is 1.5 kW/ ha that needs to be increased for greater productivity,
as indicated by the international experience (Tables 1-4)
Table 1. Farm power availability in India
Year Total farm Source-wise (%)
power Animate Mechanical Electrical
(kW/ha) Human Animal
1951-52 0.25 97.40 2.10 0.50
1961-62 0.31 94.90 3.70 1.40
1971-72 0.30 15.11 45.26 25.86 13.77
1981-82 0.47 10.92 27.23 44.10 17.70
1991-92 0.76 8.62 16.55 53.93 20.90
2001-02 1.23 6.49 9.89 62.36 21.26
2005-06* 1.50 5.77 8.02 65.47 20.74
*estimated
Table 2. Comparison of mechanization with other countries, 2001
Country Farm power No. of tractors No. of combine-

(kW/ha) per 1,000 ha harvesters per 1,000 ha
India 1.23 9.43 0.026
Japan 8.75 456.24 234.42
UK 2.50 88.46 8.32
France 2.65 68.52 4.93
Italy 3.01 201.90 6.24
Germany 2.35 87.26 11.43
Pakistan — 14.92 0.074
Egypt — 31.32 0.8311
Table 3. Farm machinery availability in India

Agricultural operations/ No. in lakh* Command in percentage of
machine 1992 2003 net area sown
Tractors 12.22 23.61 25.0
Seed-drill
(i) Tractor drawn 3.90 73.50 11.25
(ii) Animal drawn 51.03 23.77 12.06
Threshers
(i) Wheat 10.76 7.26 17.0
(ii) Paddy 0.35 1.61 2.21
(iii) Multicrop 1.68 6.81 5.76
Plant protection equip. 29.56 58.31 48.39
Table 4. Growth of agricultural machinery
Equipment Population No. per 1,000 Percentage growth

(Hundreds) ha net area sown
1992 2003 1992 2003
Horticultural tools
(power-operated) NR 12,681 — 8.9 Not calculated
Tractors 12,218 23,612 9.3 16.7 93.3
Power-tillers 3,297 2,799 2.5 2.0 (-) 15.1
Tractor-operated
disc-harrow 6,456 9,330 4.9 6.6 44.5
Tractor-operated
cultivator NR 17,715 — 12.5 Not calculated
Tractor-operated
rotavator NR 1,330 — 0.9 Not calculated
Potato digger 975 2,955 0.7 2.1 203.1
Straw reaper NR 26,605 — 18.8 Not calculated
Forage harvester NR 25,739 — 18.2 Not calculated
* Livestock Census 1992, 2003; NR, Not reported
Focussing on the aspects of agricultural transformation through

public-private partnership, the above mentioned data bring out the
following.
• The R&D programmes have so far served mainly rice-wheat
system.
• The range of the equipments (i.e. the agricultural implements and
machinery) are not wide enough to facilitate diversification of
agriculture.
• Equipments including tractors and prime-movers for
mechanization of hill agriculture and production of fruits and
vegetables are not commonly available.
The R&D programmes in future should focus on the development of
farm machinery and power units for precision and protected agriculture; hill
agriculture; horticulture, cash and plantation crops; non-farm applications
like efficient rural transport, maintenance of village roads, etc.
The ICAR has a number of institutes having related technologies,
PUBLIC - PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN MECHANIZING INDIAN AGRICULTURE 123
manpower and research facilities, and the private sector has its own
strengths of production technologies, R&D, marketing and sales-reach and
after-sales-service infrastructures; all of which can provide the interface for
achieving desired objectives. The ICAR institutes have well-equipped labs,
high calibre manpower, exposure to modern science and technologies,
developing functional prototypes, testing standards, and methods, interface
with related areas of specializations, knowledge of soil types and
agroclimatic parameters. However, these institutions require support in
designing for production with maximum parts commonality, designing for
ease of maintenance and life-cycle enhancement market reach and sales
networks, and getting market feedback for further improvement; these all
are private sector strengths.
But private sector does not have the R&D infrastructure and trained
human resource that the ICAR institutes have. Clearly, it is a fit case for
bringing synergy through the public-private partnership.
It is suggested that ICAR may, with suitable modifications, adopt a
structure like that of the ‘Automotive Research Association of India’
(ARAI), Pune, for Agricultural Mechanization Programmes, where the
ICAR already has established vibrant institution, the ‘Central Institute of
Agricultural Engineering’ with a number of AICRPs located in various
states/SAUs. Agricultural mechanization holds the key not only to the
second green revolution but also to the multiple growth of agri-equipment
business. The surest path to this is to provide an effective interface between
the ICAR institutes and the related private domains.
20
Processing and Value-addition
P.L. Kaul
Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, in his presentation on the

transforming vision into missions enumerated the following five areas for
integrated action plan to be achieved by 2020.
• Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) • Greater
Emphasis on Agriculture and Agro-food Processing • Increase in GDP
growth rate from the present level to 10% • To eradicate totally Below
Poverty Line (BPL) status of 26% of Indian Population • Food and
Nutritional Security for all
Total of 700 million people (mainly farmers), constituting
approximately 70% of the population of India, live in about six lakh
villages. According to the recent estimates, about 260 million people
(mostly from villages) are classified as those Below Poverty Line
(BPL). There are 36 million unemployed people, again mostly rural-
youth. One needs to realize that the processing in value-addition activities
should directly benefit consumers, in general, and provide an overall boost
to the national economy. When implemented in the right spirit and with
appropriate technological back-stopping, processing of farm produce has the
capacity to pull farmers out of the perennial economic despondency.
Besides, huge post-harvest losses estimated to be about Rs 50,000 crore
annually can be minimized. This activity will generate employment
opportunities for rural-youth, thereby, stepping rural prosperity and
stopping rural to urban migration. A comparison of the value-addition
activities in agriculture and food processing among a few nations of the
world clearly indicates that the value-addition in food processing sector in
India at present is only about 6% as compared to 21% in Brazil, 30% in
Thailand, 42% in New Zealand and 53% in the USA. Even though when
enormous volumes of fruits and vegetables for handling, storage and
processing for preservation are available in India.
PROCESSING AND VALUE-ADDITION CONSIDERATIONS
To ensure cost competitiveness and quality of the product, there are
appropriate scales of operations, which need to be considered for setting-
President, All-India Food Processors Association, 206, Aurobindo Place Market, New Delhi
110 016
PROCESSING AND VALUE-ADDITION 125
up processing and value-addition facilities. India produces about 25 million

tonnes of potato annually, and is the third largest potato producer in the
world. Today, potato processing in India is negligible and it is surprising
that the products such as frozen french-fries are totally imported by the
MNCs for their chains of restaurants. Potato cultivation in India needs to
be necessarily integrated with potato-processing activities.
Let us consider a multi-product potato processing plant. It has been
observed that an optimum plant capacity is 47,000 tonnes per annum (TPA)
of raw potatoes. The estimated cost of the plant is likely to be Rs 75 crore
that includes Rs 44.7 crore for plant and machinery. The plant with a
capacity of 6,000 TPA for frozen french-fries, 1,200 TPA for potato crisps,
2,400 TPA for meshed potato products and 2,700 TPA for potato granules
will yield 27.7% returns on investments with an estimated annual turnover
of Rs 50.9 crore .
To sum up, processing and value-addition activities in India will be
beneficial for producers, processors, marketers and consumers alike besides,
enormous benefits to the national economy and the environment.
21
Post-harvest Technologies in Agriculture
S. M. Ilyas
India produces more than 750 million tonnes of food items of plant
and animal origin, and is next to China’s 830 million tonnes. The
agricultural commodities are mostly of perishable nature. While some are
highly perishable like fruits, vegetables, livestock and fish products; the
others are relatively less perishable like foodgrains, oilseeds, certain tuber
crops, cotton, jute and kenaf, etc. It is estimated that the losses of the food
commodities roughly vary from 10% for cereal, pulses and oilseeds to more
than 25% for perishable commodities. The monetary value of the losses is
more than Rs 50,000 crore per year. This losses could be reduced by using
appropriate post-harvest technologies and equipment, and thereby
providing Rs 38,000 crore decentralized addition to rural economy.
The expending economy has opened new vistas for post-harvest
processing and value-addition for ensuring high quality safe raw and
processed produce at competitive prices. In this, development and
strengthening of linkages are utmost essential for improving gain at each
node of the value-chain. This task being gigantic, the involvement of all
stakeholders is a must, and this entails total paradigm shift ensuring a strong
partnership with the private sector. The processes of conversion of weakness
into strength and threats into opportunities can be smoothened through this
coalition.
PROCESSING AND VALUE-ADDITION FOR EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

Presently processing levels are very low in our country (2% fruits and
vegetables, 2% meat and poultry, 14% milk, 4 % in fish and 21% meat
deboning) and value-addition to commodities is only 7% as against 30%
in Thailand, 70% in Brazil, 78% in Philippines and 80% in Malaysia. It is
roughly estimated that to increase the level of food processing from 2% to
10%, an investment of more than Rs 140,000 crore would be required. And
this investment would generate direct employment for 7,700,000 persons
and indirect employment for 30,000,000. And would reduce wastage by
Rs 8,000 crore.
Director, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad 500 030

(Andhra Pradesh)
POST-HARVEST TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE 127
Apart from these advantages, the value-addition of food products will

go up from 7% to 35%, which will be reflected in corresponding increase
in the GNP. The bad reputation concerning post-harvest quality losses can
result in loss of market opportunities and little overseas interest for export,
and the recovery of losses can help expansion of consumer markets and
profits. The farm-gate price available to farmers is only 25% of the retailed
price in India as compared to 60-70% in the developed countries, where
more efficient marketing system is in place.
The two major objectives of post-harvest technology are loss
prevention and value-addition of raw food commodities through
preservation and processing. For the resource-poor farmers and women, it
is important that economic benefits of agro-processing and agri-business are
taken to rural areas.
India’s food processing mainly involves primary processing, which
accounts for 80% of value. As much as 42% of the food industry is in the
organized sector and 33% in the small scale, tiny and cottage sectors, which
are beset with problems of inefficiencies of high cost, economics of scale
and inadequate logistic support. According to CII- Mc Kinsey Report, the
size of the India’s food industry (estimated as Rs 25,000 crore) was
expected to double by 2005. Of this, value-added processed foods were
forecast to rise three times from Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 225,000 crore. This
should give a fair idea of opportunities for employment generation
particularly in rural areas. Obviously this vast potential can be tapped only
with the active participation of the private sector.
Under the auspices of the National Agricultural Research System
(NARS), including ICAR Institutes and State Agricultural Universities, a
large number of equipment and technologies have been developed, which
have also been rigorously evaluated and many of them are already
commercialized. Apart from these institutions, other research and
development organizations, co-operatives and also industrial sector have also
evolved many useful technologies and have come out with the agro-
processing models (Table 1).
AGRO-PROCESSING CENTRES (APCs)

Agro-processing centre is an enterprise where required facilities for
primary and secondary processings, storage, handling and drying of cereals,
pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables are made available on the charge basis
to people. Value-added agro-based products and processed food items are
also prepared and marketed by the centre. An individual/co-operative/
community organization/voluntary organization may manage this type of
centre.
The centre meets processing, preservation, handing and marketing
needs to surplus produce available in a production catchment (village or a
cluster of villages). Thus, the centre is a means of providing income and
employment to rural people through agro-based processing activities for
various produces.
Table 1. Different agro-processing models
1 Amul Pattern Co-operatives Production of milk by large number of cattle owners,

processing and marketing network by organized co-
operatives
2 Tea Industry Model On-farm primary processing, blending and marketing
in an organized sector
3 Sugar Industry Organized industry located in production catchments
with loose tie-up with growers; government playing
moderating role like deciding support price for
sugarcane
4 Gur and Khandsari On-farm cottage industry catering to an ethnic need
and lately to health conscious people competing with
sugar industry and giving better dividends to cane-
growers
5 Cotton Textile Industry Pre-cleaning/ginning and baling in production catch-
ments, spinning and weaving in an organized sector
6 Power looms Decentralized, efficiently managed units, no labour
problems or shutdowns, catering to certain range of
consumers
7 Mills (Atta Chakkis) Small, low capital units, doing custom processing to
satisfaction of customers
8 Lijjat Papad Traditional product, using underutilized, mostly female
human resource, organized as co-operative, availing
established marketing network
9 Mobile Door to Door Service Craftsmen and mechanics moving on bicycle or cart
(and now tractor trolley) with necessary equipment for
door-to-door processing service
The components of agro-industrial complexes are location-specific, so

generalized agro-industrial models cannot be suggested for the country. The
agro-industrial model for the area could be developed in a manner, which
provides sufficient job opportunities and to an entrepreneur unit adequate
profit margin. The APCs also provide good opportunities to women. The
R&D institutions as well as commercial houses have developed agro-
processing machines for the entire sector suiting various operations.
For developing an agro-industrial model for a particular area,
following points should be considered.
• Existing potential demand of the processing produce
• Availability of raw material i.e. produce
• Technology/process to be used for processing
• Volume of production (based on the assessment of demand
through market survey)
• Identification of suitable technologies, plants and machinery for
desired volume of production
• Training facility for operation, repair and maintenance of
equipment
· Credit availability at soft rates/subsidies given by financial
institutions
• Facility for packing, storage and marketing
• To derive maximum benefit, the APCs should be properly laid out
to optimize available space and to utilize energy efficiently. The

selection of equipment (capacity, power requirement etc.) is of
utmost importance. Since most post-harvest operations are
seasonal in nature, two/ three technologies/ products may be taken
up to develop an agro-industrial complex to provide regular
employment throughout the year. It is estimated that an
investment of Rs 3.00 lakh will create job for 2 persons and
generate decent income for the entrepreneur. With an investment
of Rs 5.00 lakh, it will create employment opportunities for 4
persons and annual income of Rs 90,000 to 100,000.
ROLE OF STAKEHOLDERS
Farmers/producers are, of course, the biggest stakeholders. The
problem lies in that they are still not very sensitized about latest
technologies. Hence our agriculture continues to be: low input, low
technology, less productive, low quality, less competitive and thus less
remunerative. Farming community is being served by the extension agencies
of the government-line departments ICAR Institutions and State
Agricultural Universities, but that is not enough. Private sector has also
entered in this, where services provided are chargeable.
NGOs have evinced interest in post-harvest sector lately, who try to
embed technology in private and community-based production systems.
Many of these groups are exclusively formed by women, and are run
successfully. The model of agro-processing centres has been catching up
especially in Punjab, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In some cases religious
trusts have also joined hand. World Bank and Indian financial institutions
especially the NABARD and large co-operative like IFFCO have also
showed interest.
Private sector has always been an important stakeholder and has kept
commercial activity in this sector alive. Most of the processing is done in
unorganized sector; more than 60% units are small and tiny. Established
private food processing like ITC, Hindustan Lever, Pepsi Foods, Nestle, etc
have also entered the market with much success. Mother Dairy is emerging
as an important player. Most of these have strong linkages with producers
through contact farming, which is taking firm roots in the country. A strong
R&O farmers-industry-trade and consumer partnership is in the nascent
stage, but has good prospect for creating win-win situation for all
stakeholders.
Post-harvest Technologies: Key Issues and Strategies for Effective PPP

• Adoption/development of proven technologies for reduction in
post-harvest losses of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, minor millets, fruits,
vegetables, floriculture, livestock, aquaculture and poultry
products, produce of forest origin, dairy produce, fibre crops and
commercial crops with specific goals for loss reduction through
extensive Good Agricultural Practices, safe harvesting-handling-

storage and transportation movement.
• Technology upgradation in processing cereals, pulses and oilseeds
for higher recovery, better quality and energy efficiency. Better
economic utilization of agri-residues, wastes processing and by-
products.
• Undertaking joint research in frontier areas of post-harvest
technology such as application of biotechnology, cryogenic
processing, system dynamics simulation and modelling, super
critical temperature liquefied gases for extraction of high-value
oils, fabricated foods and feed through extrusion processing,
modified atmosphere packing (MAP) for enhanced shelf-life of
fruits, vegetables, meat and so on.
• Equipment design refinement, prototypes production and
manufacturing promotion through industries.
• Development of area-specific agro-processing models for value-
addition and higher employment opportunities and agro-
processing/agro-business-based development.
• Development of better nutrition and high acceptance products
and processes specifically for low-income groups and mid-day
meal programmes through involvement of peoples’ organization
and NGOs, even religious trusts.
• Contract research for industry and consultancy projects.
• Better linkages between R&D labs, farmers, industry and
development agencies.
• Holistic system approach in analysing problem situations, and
operating a problem solving project.
• Ergonomics in equipment design, worker’s safety, creating healthy
work environment in food processing industries.
• Promotion of group/community processing to gain benefits of
economy of scale through active involvement of farmer groups,
co-operatives and Panchayati Raj institutions, line departments of
government with emphasis on higher income to farmers/
producers.
• Development of high quality food products (including
improvement of traditional foods) - healthy, hygienic, cost-
competitive, using locally available resources.
• Standardization of unit operations–product and machine
parameters, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and
Good Manufacturing Practices for food processing industries for
domestic and export requirements.
• Processing of non-traditional grains, oilseeds, fruits vegetables,
especially benefiting dryland areas, weaker section, tribals and
women.
• Development of comfortable shades/structures for livestock for
safe living and higher productivity.
• Development of efficient storage system including CA and MA

storages, and work on ultra-low oxygen storages for high-value
crops.
• Improvement in efficiency of oil and pulse milling processing and
equipment, energy auditing and reduction in pollution.
• Use of biotechnology in development of novelty foods, for
improvement in effectiveness of existing processes and for
enabling longer shelf-life.
• Studies on effect of chemicals at post-harvest stages and work on
reduction of use of chemicals through use of botanicals and safe
chemicals.
• Development of effective packaging for perishable products for
long-term haulage and storage.
• Transfer of post-harvest equipment and technology through
documentation, training and demonstration.
• Human resource development (national, international) for
scientists, engineers, technologists, operators and managers for
processing industries.
ACTION PLAN
• A fair assessment of work done anywhere in the World, ICT will
come handy, and patent search should be undertaken since only
best can compete.
• This is an era of customized production; mass production, instead
of production by masses. Hence group/contract farming and
economic scale processing needs to be promoted.
• To come out of the mental block of serving landless and marginal
farmers only. Here the clientele is much wider which includes
everyone from farmers/producers to handlers, transporters, storage,
packaging, processing, quality evaluation to consumer. The
consumer/user needs to be retained rather than only attracted
satisfied. And only surplus can be traded, processed, stored and
marketed.
• Promoting processing and value-addition, to ensure only
processed products (even if primary/minimally processed), rather
than raw materials, are sold for further processing/consumption.
Better income to producers, reducing clout of middlemen, giving
a boost to rural agro-processing, enabling more inputs to
production agriculture.
• The equipment/process developed needs to be the best state of art,
which should help in reducing/eliminating losses, reducing costs
at different stages and should provide incremental advantage
through increasing competitiveness. With existing technology, one
can’t think of competing with the world. It is clear that
competition will come from low-cost innovations. The product
should have all possible advantages. The quality and safety should
have prime consideration from raw materials to different stages

of processing, implementing all relevant codes and standards. All
participants of value-chain should be thoroughly sensitized about
quality and safety.
• Promoting agro-processing and value-addition through
establishment of large number of APCs. Self-help groups and co-
operatives need to be promoted. Specialized processing in mode
of “One Village One Product” be encouraged.
• Strengthening backward and forward linkages through intensive
liaisoning. Everyone should know what the other needs.
• Documentation, software development of package of practices:
commodity based, also unit-operation based, and regular
updation. Consumption of processed food needs to be promoted.
It will help in boosting agro-processing and will fight gluts.
• Training human resource and capacity-building of human capital
to compete with the best.
• Pilot-scale evaluation of equipment/processes/products,
appropriate packaging and safe storage.
• Complete beneficiation of biological materials: roots, stems,
leaves, flowers and fruits, hides, blood bones etc. with special
emphasis of making waste into wealth. Increasing application of
biotechnological tools.
ROADMAP
• Product of high quality; safe produce pre-cleaning grading and
drying to be done by producers. Development of quality testing
lab in public/private institution to serve maximum areas.
• Non-destructive estimation of yield of orchards by using artificial
intelligence neural network models, fuzzy logic, machine vision
etc., and determination of fruit quality by using NIR
spectroscopy.
• Development of safe and efficient handling and specialized
transport system for perishable produce, including horticultural
produce, meat, egg, fish etc.,
• Modernization of food-processing industries should be for higher
outturn, better quality, lower losses; by-product utilization;
efficient energy use; improved work environment through drastic
reduction of pollution
• Mechanization of all mandis/markets especially for perishables to
be done on priority.
• Development of effective post-harvest technology for medicinal
and aromatic plants including handling, drying, storage and
extraction of active ingredients, construction of appropriate
structures/sheds for livestock and poultry and their environment
control.
• Establishment of packing houses in production catchments for

appropriate packaging of food, feed and fibres using natural and
man-made fibres and locally available materials.
• Movement for implementations of codes and standards for
equipment, processes and products for agriculture, horticulture
and livestock including fishery sectors to be initiated with lead by
private sector.
• Utilization of high pressure technology, hurdle technology,
irradiation, reverse osmosis for enhancing shelf-life of products by
processing industries.
• Installation of high capacity dryers for high moisture produce like
paddy, mushroom and vegetables in products areas by co-operative
and food-processing industries.
• Construction of a large number of CA and MA storages for high-
value crops and products in the country especially near dry ports,
air and sea ports for export promotions by the APEDA, MPEDA,
commodity boards and corporates.
• Development of package of post-harvest practices for spices,
condiments, coconuts and cashewnuts.
• Modernization of slaughterhouses, meat and fish processing and
preservation with joint effort of public and private sectors.
• Large-scale demonstration of equipment and technologies for
their adoption by large number of stakeholders.
Global food business is more than US$ 1 trillion but the share of
developing countries is extremely low. India has huge potential in term of
its 1,000 million plus population and a large number of Indian diasporas
spread throughout the globe. Further the Indian food snacks and savories
have started tickling taste buds of foreigners as well.
Apart from its vast potential for meeting domestic and export food
demand, food business has another redeeming feature namely it provides
enormous opportunities for changing rural scenario. If tapped properly, this
activity can do wonders to rural economy, creating, unlimited jobs—more
than one can perhaps handle.
The development of technology should be followed by merciless
testing and quick transfer to perspective users. The role of private sector in
jointly developing and transferring technologies is very crucial. The
potential entrepreneur who has the aptitude to enter in exciting world of
food processing can make use of these and other technologies, release his
untapped energy, and sky will be the limit. A strong producer-handler-
trader-processor- consumer linkage is extremely desirable as that has the
potential to generate more agro-rupees and dollars than any other financial
activity in the country.
22
Public-Private Partnership — Context HRD
J. C. Katyal
PPP – Backgrounder
• HRD involves education (formal and non-formal) and training
• PPP structures – outsourcing to private agencies (infrastructure
development), outsourcing by private partners (product/process
development), joint (Crop Co-ordinated Projects)
• PPP – Rationale with respect to relevance, efficiency, effectiveness,
equity and sustenance
• Need analysis a must to identify areas and sectors with maximum
potential benefit
PPP in Training - Status

• FET of Agricultural Research Scientists with NGOs
• Practical training of NGO functionaries by SAUs/ICAR institutes/
EEIs/MANAGE/ NIRD/SIRDs
• RAWE – student placement with farmers
• Practical training of farmers by KVKs
• Rare examples of joint PPP in training like the NVTS for
industrial workers
HRD – Perspective Agriculture

• To sustain an economic growth rate of 8%, country must diversify
its agriculture, it must broaden its agricultural export basket, and
must prepare to compete even more in global markets
• To sustain new heights of economy, India needs a hierarchical
brigade of ‘knowledge and skilled workers’
PPP – Rationale
• Public institutions enhance use efficiency of infrastructure and
manpower; and need to shift from input culture to output
mindset, from inventions to innovations and from degree holders
to market-relevant professionals.
Vice-Chancellor, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar 125 004
(Haryana)
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP — CONTEXT HRD 135
• Private organizations enhance productivity, reach and profitability;

and need to minimize fixed costs; look for enterprise-relevant agri-
business managers and product-pushing marketers.
• Country’s development goals – reduce poverty, expand employ-
ability and employment; conserve and make efficient use of added
and native resources for reducing cost of cultivation, increasing
market competitiveness and environmental security.
• Availability of right quality and number of HR is a must; single
entity approach found wanting in producing that kind and number
of HR
• Need is for a more robust system of education and training to
produce need and market appropriate human resource
• Technically qualified (graduates+). Number: ~625,000; kind:
professionals (200,000 alone in food processing). Para-
professionals (matric+); number: 1,250,000 (?)
• Knowledge and skill empowered farmers and farm-workers.
Number: 127 million farmers and 107 million farm-workers
• Multi-organizational function and diverse-mode delivery of
knowledge and skills are must to fill HRD needs to ensure flow
of benefits of economic growth to those most in need
HR – Need is for Knowledge and Skilled Workers

• More programmes are needed to promote technical skills
among farm-workers and build entrepreneurship spirit among
graduates. A large pool of agri-business managers need to be
developed
• Both public institutions and private organizations have stakes in
K&S workers. This is what precisely defines need for PPP
• Market orientation to training programmes brings private sector
close to public sector
Market Orientated E&T

• Enhances employability, income earning opportunities of
professionals and mobility in the labour market
• Helps farmers to get more income and thus alleviating from
poverty
• Enables private sector to reap more rewards through improved
productivity per worker and compete successfully in increasingly
integrated world markets
PPP – Basics
• Goal commonality (shared vision)
• Strength complimentarity (I need you)
• Costs and funding (no free lunch)
• Credits, risks and responsibility sharing (we are partners)
• Conflict resolution (we decide)
PPP – Alliance Enabling Links

• Strengthen and update regulations and procedures to encourage
PPP
• Aim for creating synergies from PPP; jointly script and deliver
course curricula based on pre-defined knowledge and skill profile
of farmers, para-professionals and professionals
• Experiment with new partnership models, where best of public
and private sectors can come together without compromising
stated mission of either partner
• Launch educational programmes to create a cadre of professionals
who will be structuring, implementing and monitoring PPP
initiatives
• Resonate a process to forge alliance
PPP – Alliance Process

• Establishing PPP involves soldering together a series of
independent but interrelated sequential steps and activities
• Partnership building is, thus, a process. It follows a cyclic path
• Cycle begins with exploration of a partnership subject and ends
with a logical conclusion or re-begins with search for new options
based upon the experience and confidence built during previous
partnership
PPP – Process Steps

• Exploration of HRD subject
• Outlining aim and objectives
• Identification of potential partners, MOU
• Fine tuning HRD subject, aim and objectives
• Detailing HRD activities and delivery plans
• Evaluation of results and outcome
• Conclusion of partnership or re-begin
PPP – Strategic Training Initiatives

• India has developed a coherent systemic PPP framework for
training industrial workers
• ITIs are main component of NVTS
• Of 2,720 ITIs, 1,700 belong to private sector
• Annually 450,000 workers are trained
• Apprentice Act 1961 makes it obligatory for private enterprises
to engage a certain proportion of ITI trained personnel
• NVTS thus serves organized industrial sector; covers merely 10%
of total economically active labour force
• Agricultural workers remain excluded
• Education and training of farmers is the single largest contributor
for growth and development in developing countries (WB). Pay
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP — CONTEXT HRD 137
offs are far greater if access of education and training is improved

to girls and women
• Strategic training initiative involving PPP on the lines of NVTS
will be highly desirable.
National Training System for Agricultural Workers (NTSAW)

• Necessary to strengthen and develop skilled human resource that
can make most out of the emerging opportunities in place of over-
emphasized misgivings
• Basic to L3 to respond rapidly to changing technologies and
labour market demand
• Required to minimize (i) shift from artisans to unskilled
employment, (ii) unemployment due to seasonal factors and (iii)
migration from rural to urban areas
• Needed to promote science and market-driven agriculture. This
trend ropes in increasingly prominent role of private sector
NTSAW – Structuring Proposal

• A statutory body may be created to frame policies, lay down
standards, plan, co-ordinate and manage NTSAW
• A PP supported nodal institute needs to be established with
mandate for: curricula, media and training material development;
advancing research and policy advice; making training need
assessment and repository of information on farm labour and
developing materials and standards for instructor training
• ICAR institutes; SAUs and their RRS; State Departments of
Agriculture and KVKs based upon mandate and capabilities
provide instructor training and farmers’ training.
• Firm partnership of and linkage with private training institutes
and agro-business industry needs to be integrated to enhance
reach, connectivity and market linkages.
Moving PPP from Rhetoric to Reality

• Prepare a National Policy on PPP in HRD, which inter alia lays
down clear guidelines and regulations governing PPP
• Identify subjects and areas
• Establish PPP processing cells in the institutes of NARS. Define
structure, drawing (preferably) members from existing institute,
research and management bodies
• Set-up an monitoring and evaluation unit to guide and facilitate
PPP initiatives
ANNEXURE
Proceedings of the ‘ICAR-Industry Meet—

Agricultural Transformation through Public-
Private Partnership: An Interface’
The ‘ICAR-Industry Meet—Agricultural Transformation through
Public-Private Partnership: An Interface’ was inaugurated by Hon’ble Shri
Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture, Consumers Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution on 19 January 2006. The session was chaired by
Dr Mangala Rai, Secretary (DARE) and Director-General (ICAR). Twenty-
three invited experts from private and public organizations, out of 24,
presented a wide spectrum on agriculture.
Dr Mangala Rai welcomed the Chief Guest as well as the participants
from different public and private organizations. He focussed on the large
number of technologies generated by the ICAR Institutes and Agricultural
Universities, which need to be transferred to different end-users in a
participatory mode with the industry. He requested the industry to come
forward to work in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research
System, so that both can benefit from mutual exchange of ideas and
technologies. He also suggested industries to benefit from the infrastructure
available with the ICAR for carrying out need-based research in important
areas through contract research and contract services. He said that
misconceptions, if any, in the minds of anyone, need to be removed at the
earliest. The partnership has to be on one-to-one basis. Dr Mangala Rai
also appreciated the presence of a large number of experts/officials from
various organizations for attending this important meeting. He thanked the
Hon’ble Union Minister for Agriculture for encouragement and support
received in organizing for the first time this important event in the ICAR
at such a scale.
Shri Sharad Pawar, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, delivered the
inaugural address. He complemented the ICAR, and said, a good beginning
has been made, and said that all should join hands in addressing problems
and potentials in a holistic manner. He highlighted the advantage of
forming alliances. The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) will help in
reducing cost of development of processes and technologies. The
partnership can be successful only if both the sides agree on the scope of
the alliance, viz. strategic, economic and operational. There should be no
mistrust in partnership, as otherwise, it will result in failure; and the profit
needs to be shared equally between stakeholders. In the past we had fruitful
interactions between the public institutions and the private sector in several
areas of agriculture. While public-funded organizations have significant
ANNEXURE 139
research results and the ability to observe uncertainties of pay-offs, the

private sector seems to have an edge in factoring clients into design of
technologies and in diffusion process. In view of the changing framework
of the research and development processes in agriculture and the high
potential of the Public-Private Partnership to enable a faster technological
change in a more sustainable, socially and ethically responsive manner, this
interface was convened. The specific outcome of the interface would be road
map for developing strategies for the three P’s i.e. Public-Private Partnership
in agriculture. He was confident that this Interface would help in forming
alliances and set the tone for continued dialogue between the public and
private sectors for mutual exchange of ideas. Shri Sharad Pawar ji also
released 5th revised and enlarged edition of Handbook of Agriculture,
brought Out by the DIPA, ICAR, New Delhi.
Dr B R Barwale (Chairman, M/s MAHYCO Research Foundation,
Pune) in his address on ‘Partnership for Prosperity’ mentioned that
MAHYCO and ICRISAT had joined hands to form a consortium with half-
a-dozen organizations, which proved to be a success. He suggested that the
MAHYCO, ICRISAT and the ICAR should join hands to solve problems
of Helicoverpa in pigeonpea and develop good hybrid pigeonpea, which shall
double production of the crop in the country. He said, there is a need for
having bilateral agreement between the public and private sectors, and in
that its secrecy be maintained with respect to technologies to be developed.
He said, partnership may be initiated on this important crop as it has
tremendous potential and needs solution for increasing yields. The Director-
General (ICAR) agreed for forging an effective partnership.
Dr N K Singh (Principal Scientist, National Research Centre on Plant
Biotechnology, New Delhi), talked on ‘Capabilities in Agricultural
Biotechnology’, and emphasized on the need for attaining Ever Green
Revolution and enumerated strengths of-public and private sectors. He also
listed major achievements made in biotechnology and suggested the mode
of public-private partnership model to be adopted in this important area.
Dr S N Singh (Managing Director, M/s Biovet Pvt. Ltd, Pune), gave
lecture on ‘Vaccines in Animal Health’ and listed a large number of vaccines
developed in the area of Animal Health to control various diseases. The
world is paying greater attention towards animal health. Due to a large
number of emerging diseases, there is a need to prevent spread of these
diseases by developing suitable vaccines through public-private partnership.
India is fortunate that its livestock are free from various diseases, and there
is a good export potential of its animals and its products. Proper hygienic
environment needs to be provided and standard abattoirs need to be
established to meet standards set-forth by other countries. The Director-
General assured that ICAR is ready to join hands with interested parties
in this strategic area.
Dr O P Singh (Chief Executive Officer, M/s Venkateshwara Hatcheries
Pvt. Ltd, Pune), briefed about the poultry industry, and informed that its
contribution to Gross Domestic Product is 12%. He emphasized on the need
to protect local germplasm; as 85% of the egg production is from the local
germplasm. Breeding programmes, value-addition, food safety and public
health, quarantine, food and nutrient bio-availability, practical animal
nutrition, graduate programme in poultry science, feed production, farm-
waste management and its safe disposal, insurance plan, industrial ecology,
credit availability, cold chain are some of the areas, where according to him,
there can be partnership between the public and private sectors. Research
support is needed for production of amino acids production, vitamins
production, reduction of excise duty, improved quality of soy and maize as
feed for birds and prebiotics and probiotics production. He showed
willingness to take active part in collaborative research in identified areas,
and stressed for formulation of ‘National Poultry Development Plan’. The
Director-General (ICAR) appreciated the presentation and said that all
angularities in implementation of the joint programme need to be removed,
if we have to move forward in public-private partnership.
Shri Suresh A Kotak (Chairman, M/s Kotak Industries, Mumbai)
presented a brief overview and status of textile industry in India and abroad,
and dwelt on shortcomings and strengths of the textile industry. He
emphasized the need for development of value-chain in textile sector at
different stages of production of textile fabric and yarn, and said that our
strength is that the Indian cotton varieties are of good fibre strength. China
imports approximately 1 million bales from India, and it is expected to
increase to 3 million in future. From 25 to 30% world export trade is from
India, and textiles contribute 3% to the GDP, which is expected to double
in future. The extra long staple bales, eco-friendly short-to-medium cotton
and supply of improved seed of long staple cotton to Gujarat were also
discussed. There is a need for technology-upgradation fund, market
development assistance and market-area initiatives.
Dr P L Kaul (President, Food Processors’ Association, New Delhi)
gave a brief account of different post-harvest facilities and technologies
available in India and compared the processing capabilities with other
neighbouring countries. He also highlighted generation of rural
employment through setting-up of agro-processing centres in villages and
reduction of post-harvest losses. The post-harvest management contribution
to GDP could be enhanced from 6 to 10%. He emphasized on high levels
of investments in food-processing sector, as also on the forward and
backward linkages to realize full potential. Three models of processing —
large, medium and small — to suit different commodities and investment
potentials were also discussed through potato processing.
Dr A Banerjee (President, Indian Dairy Association, New Delhi)
presented global scenario of the Dairy Industry and brought out
diversification that can be achieved in the sector. He dwelt on cattle
improvement, health-care and feed, and on needs for public-private
partnership in this area. Value-addition and waste handling and disposal
were also discussed. He suggested development of technology parks that
can serve as the vending source of information and material.
ANNEXURE 141
Dr G Kalloo (DDG, Horticulture, and with Additioal charge of Crop

Sciences, ICAR, New Delhi) made a presentation on the ‘Crop Varieties
and Horticulture Planting Material’ and listed various potential areas :
exchange of germplasm, seed, disease diagnostics, in-vitro multiplication and
sensitive viral detection techniques for public-private partnership.
Dr D K Arora (Director, NBAIM, Mau) highlighted diversity of
microorganisms and their potential that can be harnessed in different aspects
of agriculture. He briefed about biofertilizers, biocontrol agents,
bioprocessing and waste recycling and sources of valuable genes.
Dr S Kundu [General-Manager (Technical), M/s Excel Industries,
Mumbai], presented the process of aerobic composing and benefits of
organic manures in agriculture, and underlined the need for development
of standards for certification of organic manures.
Dr J C Katyal (Director, School of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi
National Open University, New Delhi) presented immense possibilities of
public-private partnership in human resource development in agriculture.
He talked about the wealth of trained manpower that India possesses in
agriculture, including Information Technology and Biotechnology. He gave
the example of thc Industrial Training Institutes and called for the National
Training System for Agricultural Workers (NTSAW). He emphasized
movement of researchers between public and private systems to harness best
of the two sectors.
Dr S Maiti (Director, National Research Centre on Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants, Anand) made a detailed presentation on the potentials of
the market with US $5 billion in the world. Top 100-traded medicinal
plants of India were listed. The capacities of private sector in extraction and
formulation were emphasized.
Dr S Ayyappan [DDG (Fisheries), ICAR, New Delhi], gave an
overview of fisheries and aquaculture in the country, including export status.
Issues of marine and inland fisheries that are being managed by the public
and private sectors as also the cooperatives and NGOs were highlighted.
The future possibilities in marine fisheries management, in seed production,
feed and health sector, quality assurance, and boat-and net-making,
processing, for public-private partnership were discussed.
Dr Vishnu Swarup [Director (Research and Development), Indo-
American Hybrid Seeds (India) Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi] gave a brief account
on the public-private partnership possibilities in floriculture and horticulture,
and in India’s share in global market worth US $ 9.4 billion, from the present
0.18%. He suggested areas of post-harvest management and packaging of
flowers, design of low-cost greenhouses and net-houses for Indian conditions,
and human resource development for public-private partnership.
Dr T P Rajendran [ADG (Plant Protection), ICAR, New Delhi]
emphasized the biological control methods and suggested public-
private partnership areas as designs of applicators of biocontrol agents,
identification of active principles of different agents and large-scale
production of hormones.
Dr M P Yadav (Director, IVRI, Izatnagar), presented an account of

‘Biologicals in Animal Husbandry’. He presented briefly different diagnostic
kits developed for different diseases of livestock. He emphasized the need for
standards for vaccines as also the need for uniform pricing of vaccines.
Dr B N Vyas (Vice President, M/s Godrej Agro-Vet, Mumbai),
deliberated on the biocontrol agents, and brought out the need for
harmonization of standards, introduction of pesticides and biocides in a
systematic manner with awareness programmes for farmers, quality
assurance in herbal formulations and registration of formulations being
produced by the Government Institutions.
Dr S M Ilyas (Vice-Chancellor, Narendra Dev University of
Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad), gave an overall account of post-
harvest technology and its scope in agriculture. He briefed on the reduction
of post-harvest losses, value-addition in different commodities, food safety
and quality and related aspects. Human resource development in terms of
inclusion of the subject in the Industrial Training Institutes was also
emphasized, along with job potentials.
Prof M M Mehta (Former-Vice President, M/s Escorts Pvt. Ltd,
Faridabad), gave a brief account of farm mechanization in India, and the
accomplishments through public-private partnership in the area. Farm
machinery worth Rs 500,000 million is being manufactured in the country
annually. He suggested that the ICAR should send all the publications in
the relevant areas through registered associations to have a wide reach in
the country.
Dr C Devakumar (Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research
Institute, New Delhi), spoke on the global scenario of agro-biochemicals
and suggested development of database on available chemicals and their use
in different crop systems, and indicated industries that can be targeted for
public-private partnership along with the issues.
Dr Mruthyanjaya (National Director, National Agricultural Innovative
Project, New Delhi), presented the institutional views on the public-private
partnership in agriculture, and highlighted the likely problems and means of
overcoming them for successful partnership. Potential areas for public-private
partnership were listed and organization of match-making workshops was
suggested. He also suggested formulation of a policy for the purpose.
Dr R D Kapoor (Regulatory Lead, M/s Monsanto India Ltd, New
Delhi), presented the Industry views on public-private partnership in
agriculture. According to him public institutions need to help private sector
for testing and evaluation of products and processes. The aspects of
proprietary products, equated subsidy and self-certification were discussed.
Alliances for empowerment, joint helpline, support to social programmes
and joint Intellectual Property Rights management were suggested. The
need for joint monitoring and mid-course correction in projects as also the
facility of sabbatical for staff members was also highlighted.
Dr N Srinivasan (Chief General Manager, National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Pune), explained various
ANNEXURE 143
programmes of the NABARD, with case studies and detailed procedure of

project formulation and evaluation and offered the assistance of the
NABARD in facilitating public-private partnership.
There were detailed discussions on the presentations made in different
sessions, and also at the end of all the sessions on 20 January 2006. They
were mainly on-farm testing of new technologies, seed quality
improvement, one window for commercialization of technologies, soil-
testing laboratories, value-chain in different aspects, water, weedicide,
smaller machinery and appropriate technologies, custom-hiring, mobile feed
dryers, use of fertilizers and micronutrients, extension systems and mobility
of researchers between public and private sectors.
ACTION POINTS
Thc Action points emerged from the ICAR-Industry Meet are
enumerated as follows.
1. A Network project on ‘Pigeonpea improvement through
transgenics for resistance to Helicoverpa between ICAR and M/s
MAHYCO, Pune, and ICRISAT, Hyderabad, to be developed, for
funding by the ICAR.
2. A day’s meet on ‘Dairy, Cattle and Buffalo Improvement’ to be
organized in the next 3 months and a Roadmap for Public-Private
Partnership in the area to be developed.
3. Four Working Groups, would deliberate on issues of Public-
Private Partnership in (i) Diagnostics and vaccines, (ii) Processing,
value-addition, farm implements and machinery, (iii) Seed and
planting material; and (iv) Biocontrol agents.
4. Joint efforts by the public and private sectors in the areas of poultry
germplasm identification and protection, food safety and feed
production including amino acid production, cold chain and NPDP
5. Technology upgradation and incubation for scaling up food-
processing methods and enabling higher investments for setting-
up pilot plants.
6. Establishment of technology parks in institutions for hands-on-
exposure to farmers and entrepreneurs and circulation of relevant
ICAR publications through registered associations.
7. Collaborative work between fisheries institutes and private shrimp
hatchery operators for developing protocols for captive
broodstock development of shrimp.
8. Enabling mechanisms of mobility for researchers between the
public and private sectors in different areas, as also representations
on each others’ management to be developed.
9. The guidelines for Memorandum of Understanding for public-
private partnership would be developed, for facilitating public-
private partnership in agricultural research and education in a
more effective manner.
10. The ICAR-Industry Meet to be an annual event.
11. Full Proceedings of the Meet to be published.
Subject Index
Actinomycetes 42 Composting 41
Acts, 5 Conservation agriculture 11
Agribusiness centres 15 Conservation of natural resources
Agriclinics 15 10
Agricultural biotechnology 23, 108 Contract farming 15
Agriculture and allied activities 8 Corporate strategies 68
Agro Export Zones 14 Culture forming technology 9, 11
Agro-biochemicals 55 Cytokines 76
Agro-processing centres 127
Animal biologicals 84 Dairy 113
Animal health 64 Dairy sector 92
Animal health-care 87 DNA technology 115
Anthelmintics 66 Drug delivery matrices 76
Anti-infectives 64
Anti-parasitics 66 Ectoparasiticides 66
Anti-protozoals 66 Employment generation 126
Aquaculture, freshwater 102 Endogenous retroviruses 80
Environment Act, 1986 5
Bills, 5 Environmental protection 10
Biocontrol agents 52 Enzymes 113
Biocontrol agents, market potential
of 53 Financing 7
Biological control agents 49, 52 Fisheries 99
Biological Diversity Act, 2002 5 Fisheries exports 103
Biological products 74 Fisheries, inland 100
Biologicals 65, 74 marine 100
Biologicals, animals 84 Floriculture 35
assays of 79 Food Safety and Standard
categories of 76 Bill, 2005 5
market 87
quality of 78 Germplasm evaluation 4
veterinary 83 Green Revolution, “Second-genera-
Bio-Organic Soil Enricher 41 tion” 4
Bioremediation 117
Biotechnology 23, 108 Herbal heritage 31
Botanical insecticides 50 High-value commodities 4
Hormones 67
Cell cultures 78 Human Resource Development 39,
choupals 13 134
Commodities, high value 4 Hybrid rice 1, 4
SUBJECT INDEX 145
Hybrid tur 2 Pesticide testing 4

Pesticides, role of 59
Immuno-modulatory cytokines 76 Pheromones 50
Indian agriculture, mechanization Plant nutrients 59
120 Plant Quarantine Order, 2003 5
Indian Patent Act, 2005 5 Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights
Insecticide Act, 1968 5 Act 5, 21
Institutional and industrial views 4 Post-harvest management system
Internet kiosks 13, 16 38
Post-harvest technologies 129
Kiosks 13,16 Poultry industry 70
Prevention of Food Adulteration
Livestock sector 8 Bill, 2004 5
Private-Public Partnership, status of
MAHYCO Research Foundation 1 19, 25
Market potential of biocontrol Probiotics 77, 113
agents 53 Protection of Plant Varieties and
Material Transfer Agreement 5 Farmers’ Right Act 5
Medicinal plants 32 Purchasing power parity 7
Mesophilic bacteria 42
Microbial biotechnology 112 Recombinant DNA Technology
Microbial genomics 114 115
Microbiological technology 41 Retroviruses 80
Microorganisms, agriculturally Rural technologies 10
important 110
Microorganisms used in Industry Second Green Revolution 120
114 seva kendras 13
Molecular methodologies 114 Stakeholders’ expectations 47
Status of the Public-Private Partner-
NAT 79 ship 25
National Biotechnology Develop- Strategies, corporate 68
ment Strategy 5
National Poultry Development TCID 81
Plan 71 Technology commercialization 7, 8
National Training System for Therapeutic segments 64
Agricultural Workers 137 Tissue culture infectivity dose 81
Natural resources, conservation of Tonics 67
10
New Seed Bill, 2004 5 Vaccine potency estimation 81
Nucleic acid Amplification Technol- Value-added products 35
ogy 79 Value-addition 124, 126
Veterinary biologicals 83
Organic crop production 22 Village Knowledge Centres 13
Partnership, explorations for 48 Watershed development 12

Pest management 54

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ICAR-Industry Meet

Directorate of Information and Publications of Agriculture

Incharge (DIPA) : Kuldeep Sharma

All rights reserved

Published by Shri Kuldeep Sharma, Incharge (DIPA), Indian Council of Agricultural

Indian agriculture is faced with several challenges, as also uncommon

partnership is increasing in the recent past; with several mechanisms placed

In recognition of the increasing importance of the role and potentials

All partnership efforts for agricultural transformation should

• The Technical Committee comprising representatives of all

Impact of the ICAR/MRF Project

This unique and innovative partnership between a private research

HYBRID TUR (PIGEONPEA)

system in breeding a pigeonpea hybrid. The funding to the extent of approx.

A public-private partnership is a contractual agreement between a

studies, Germplasm/Agronomic evaluation, Animal feeding studies,

SUGGESTIONS FOR STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP

MACRO ECONOMIC SCENARIO

The economy of India is the fourth largest in the world as measured by

The deceleration in agricultural growth in India is certainly a cause of

PRESENT STATUS OF AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES

EMERGING PARADIGM OF TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION

NEED AND CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW RURAL TECHNOLOGIES

longer lags in technology induction and commercialization; as the

laser-based levelling machines, growing crops on raised-land beds

Clean Milk Production

Village Knowledge Centres/ Internet Kiosks

Irrigation and Micro-irrigation (MI)

Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Agro Export Zones

Agriclinics and Agribusiness Centres (ACABC)

ISSUES IN TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION AND FINANCING

population being covered by informal finance, limits financing of

• The productivity variations are wide in the country from region

8. Banks to build capacity of their rural development officers for

Public-private sector partnership (PPP) is a new institutional

molecules of chemicals, improvement of quality of produce like carpet-wool,

ACCELERATED PROGRESS UNDER PPP: SOME SUGGESTIONS

SEED QUALITY AND HEALTH

The seed quality has to be ensured including that of genetically

FOODGRAINS PRODUCTION VIS-À-VIS POPULATION GROWTH

Fig. 1 Foodgrains production increased sufficiently to feed India’s burgeoning population

pesticides, (b) use of farm machinery and implements, (c) availability of

Status of the Public-Private Partnership in Agriculture

skills. With the growing prosperity in India, the private sector is

Public Sector Capabilities in Agricultural Biotechnology

research scientists have collected and developed immense wealth of

Table 1. Institutional infrastructure in the Indian National Agricultural Research System

Trained Human Resource

Major Achievements of Public Sector in Agricultural Biotechnology

development, validation and commercialization of diagnostic kits and

Research programmes initiated : The ICAR and the DBT have

Future Prospects and Modes of Public-Private Partnership

on the experience of the public-private partnership in the developed

to trend of functional food. Cosmeceuticals are cosmetics and

STATUS OF TRADE IN MEDICINAL PLANTS

CHALLENGES BEFORE THE INDUSTRIES

WEAKNESSES OF THE MP SECTOR

• Poor database (do not match with production, utilization and

ROLE OF THE ICAR IN PROMOTION OF MP

NRC Research Thrusts

• Plant nursery for propagation and supply of live ornamental plants

FLORICULTURE TRADE IN INDIA

Public and Private Partnership